


The Lab Assistant: Bionic Superhumans

by Kihonne



Series: Heroes in the Making: An Elite Force [1]
Category: Lab Rats (TV 2012)
Genre: Bionic Superhumans, F/M, Family, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, High School, Season/Series 01, Slow Burn, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-15
Updated: 2013-08-15
Packaged: 2020-01-05 20:14:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 67,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18373292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kihonne/pseuds/Kihonne
Summary: When Leo Dooley moves in with his new step-dad, he's given the surprise of a lifetime: bionic superhumans for siblings. In his opinion, his life couldn't get any better now that they're in it. But with bionics comes a lot of unexpected trouble and obstacles. Luckily, he's not alone; Davenport's lab assistant, Calla Parker, is more than happy to show Leo the ropes of being friends with the world's first bionic superhumans. Based off of the original episodes of Lab Rats: Season One, but will include other stuff as well.





	1. Chop, Crash, and Burn

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own lab rats, or anything from the original TV show. I only own this story, Calla, Jaden, any other OCs present, and anything else you don't recognize.

**Leo's POV**

I groaned as my new step dad, Donald Davenport, picked up my mom, leaving all the luggage on the ground and carried her into the new house. It was SO sappy. Plus, I had to carry the luggage!

"Welcome to your new home, Mrs Davenport." Big D (his new nickname) announced, spinning her around in a circle. She cooed happily.

"Why thank you Mr Davenport!" she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Absolutely Mrs. Davenport." They kissed and I decided it was time to end that little show. I dragged the luggage into the living room.

"We get it; you got married! It's getting old!" I exclaimed. Big D sighed and put my mother down as I looked around. The house was huge, and pretty cool! "WOW! You got this big house just from inventing things?"

"Yep." Big D replied. I looked at my mom.

"Now THAT'S a husband." I told her, still looking at my new home in awe. I noticed a large metal thing right next to the couch and walked over to it. "What is that?"

"That," Mr Davenport said, "Is my latest creation. Davenport Industries first completely interactive 3D TV!" he waved his hands in front of the 3D TV thingy and it turned on, showing a virtual baseball game in front of me. The batter hit the ball and it suddenly became real and heading straight for me. I backed up to catch it, only to walk right into the wall.

"Hey! Watch the face termite!" I gasped, spun around, and stared at the white screen with the weird looking black face.

"Mom, I think the little voice inside my head is back." Big D laughed.

"No, this is just Eddie. He's my smart home system." He told me, then looked at Eddie and introduced me and my mom. Eddie didn't seem to like us much.

"Hey, yeah. Welcome. Everything here is mine." The screen shut off after that. A voice from behind us startled me.

"Sorry about him, he's not really in a good mood today." I turned around and saw a girl standing there. She looked to be fifteen or sixteen, with long brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing jeans and a white shirt with a panda on it.

"Uh. Who are you?" I asked. Big D introduced us as well.

"Uh Leo, Tasha, this is Calla, my personal lab assistant. She works here after school and on the weekends until four." The girl smiled at us. "Calla, this is my new wife Tasha and my stepson Leo."

"Nice to meet you." Call grinned. "Mr. Davenport hasn't stopped talking about either of you. It's been driving me nuts."

"Yeah. Probably." I agreed. "Hey, you look familiar. Have I seen you somewhere before?"

"Uh, probably at one of the school's football games. My brother's on the team." I tried to remember which one her brother was. I gave up after a minute.

"Yeah, I've got no clue who your brother is." I admitted. Calla smirked.

'Maybe I'll introduce you or something at school tommorow. Either way, my working day ended ten minutes ago and I'm heading out with some of my friends tonight. But I'll see you around."

"Yeah totally." I agreed as she left. My mom gave me a look as the door closed.

"No way. I do NOT like her." I exclaimed. My mom thought that every girl I talked to was my latest crush. Big D smirked.

"Hey Leo, why don't you go check out your new room?" he suggested. "Just go down that hall and when you see the room full of video games and action figures and the fifty foot flat screen TV…" I started to grow excited. "Just keep going 'cause that's mine."

The smile fell from my face as I trudged down the hallway, letting my mom and Big D have some alone time. I never did find my room though because when I reached the end of the hallway, it was just a small sitting room.

"This place is huge!" I complained, leaning back against one of the walls. "I'm going to need a GPS just to find the bathroom."

Suddenly, the wall to my left shimmered and turned grey. Three red circles appeared on it before it split in two, revealing an elevator. I stepped inside, frowning. What was an elevator doing in a two-story house?

As soon as I entered the elevator, the doors slammed shut behind me and it felt like the floor had disappeared beneath me and the elevator went down, going at least fifty miles an hour. The ride stopped though almost as soon as it had started and the doors opened again, this time showing me and room that reminded me of my favourite super hero's hideout. I looked around at all the inventions and cool gadgets.

"Whoa…My new dad is Batman!" I grinned at the concept. Then another set of doors opened and a teenage boy, about Calla's age, ran out. I hid behind one of the large, yellow containers so he would not see me. The doors closed behind him.

The boy was short, with short brown hair and brown eyes. He wore some sort of messed up armour without the cool flashy colors. "Good luck getting in!" he yelled at the door, or whatever was behind it. "That steel door is thicker than your head!"

Suddenly, a massive, fist sized dent appeared in the door, making both me and the boy flinch back. Ten the doors fell down, a seventeen year old guy standing behind them, a very angry look on his face. He had short black/brown hair and brown eyes and was wearing an outfit very similar to the first boy. Let's call them thing one and thing two, the short one being number one.

"Well, there's another way to get in." Thing One joked, backing up. Thing Two ran forward, grabbed Thing One by the back of his shirt and lifted him a foot off the ground.

"Give me back my IPod!" he demanded as the shorter boy struggled in his grasp.

"I don't have it!" Thing One exclaimed. Then a girl with brown hair and brown eyes walked in, carrying an IPod.

"Oh, hey!" she grinned at the boys as if that scene was all too familiar. Thing Two gasped, dropping the other boy and pointed at the girl.

"You took my IPod!" he accused. The girl raised an eyebrow at him.

"Taylor Swift mega-mix? Really?" Thing Two seemed offended.

'I find her soothing." He replied, reaching for his IPod. The girl started to walk away but he stopped her. How did he stop her? Oh, he shot lasers through his eyes over her shoulder. I would have screamed if I wasn't hiding. The girl stopped, then turned to glare at Thing Two.

"Oh, I know you didn't shoot that laser at me." Thing Two grinned.

"Oh, sorry." He didn't seem sorry at all. "It was a terrible mistake. Just like your face."

The girl flushed with anger and charged at Thing Two, going twice the speed of the elevator. She knocked Thing Two into the yellow barrels, allowing them all to see me. We all stared at each other for a moment. Then:

"AHH!" They all screamed.

"AHH!" I screamed.

"AHH!" We all screamed as I ran away from them, deeper into the mysterious room. They followed me in there and started me as I cowered behind a counter. I took a deep breath.

"I don't usually use this card, but…MOM!" I screamed just as her and Big D were coming into the room. I bolted for her side.

"Leo! There you are!" she gasped as I hugged her tightly. Then she looked around, seeing all the gadgets and the three…whatevers. "What is this place? Who are they?"

Big D panicked. "Uh they…they are a boy band I've been working with and the twist is, one of them's a girl?" he tried. My mom glared at him. "Okay, fine. They're a part of a secret project I've been developing; genetically engineered super-human siblings. Tasha, Leo, meet Adam" he pointed to Thing Two "Bree and Chase." Chase was the shorter of the boys. "They're the greatest combination of technology and biology ever developed. I don't want to brag, but I am incredibly smart." It sounded like bragging to me.

My mom turned to me and pointed at the three of them, about to say something. I cut her off though. "Hey, don't look at me. I told you to stay away from internet dating." I reminded her.

She turned to Big D. "So, they're robots?" my mom tried to understand. She wasn't really the best with all that science stuff.

Adam, Bree and Chase gasped theatrically. "Whoa!" "Hey!" "Oh no she didn't!"

"I don't think they like being called robots." I told my mom.

"No Tasha, they're human." Big D assured her. "I've just given each of them a unique set of bionic abilities controlled through a microchip implanted in their necks. It sounds a lot more complicated than it is."

My mom nodded, but Big D still felt the need to explain. He pointed at the three siblings. "You see, Adam is all brute strength, and Bree has speed and agility, and Chase has super senses and a superior intelligence."

My mom laughed nervously, then pulled Big D off to a corner, leaving us four kids to stare stupidly at one another. "There are children LIVING in our basement!" My mom exclaimed.

"This is a scientific habitat!" Big D argued. "I mean look at it. It's got a game room and a rock wall! Anything that a kid could ask for! I created this place so they could train in the utmost of comfort and technology!"

"It's true!" Adam agreed. "The toilets have seat warmers that TALK!"

'What do they say?" I asked, regretting the question the second it came out of my mouth.

"Well, it varies depending on-" I raised a hand to stop him.

'No." I really didn't want to hear the rest.

"Well Donald, I don't know what to make of all this." My mom said seriously. "Some new wives get surprised with a honeymoon in Hawaii or a cruise. Bionic teenagers were not on our wedding registry."

Big D tried to convince her. "Honey, they have to stay down here for their own protection. This is all very top secret, but as soon as their training is complete, they'll be able to handle any crisis or problem that he world throws at them."

"I want to go to the pyramids!" Chase told my mom.

"I want to go to Paris." Bree declared.

'I want to go upstairs." Adam announced. I was about to point the elevator out when I saw these three glass cylinders.

"Hey, what are those?" I asked curiously. "Are they time machines?"

Big D chuckled. "No they're not time machines. The time machines are actually in the shop." I couldn't tell if he was joking or not. "These are my biologically regulated atmospheric chambers where my bionic creations live and sleep and eat. Which reminds me, it's dinner time."

Adam, Bree and Chase ran into the capsules, which is what I've decided to call them and strapped on some goggles as little food pellets, sort of like the stuff you feed your dog or cat, fell from above them. It was like they were showering in food. It was SO cool! Big D explained what the food was, but I was too busy staring at the messed up eating ritual to hear him. My mom looked positively disgusted.

**The Next Day**

I spent the rest of Saturday chatting with Adam, Bree and Chase, but I hadn't gotten to see any more of their bionics. But I did learn that Adam is afraid of ovals, that Chase knows WAY too much, and that Bree is addicted to the fashion magazines that Calla brings her.

Anyway, it was just after lunch and Big D was training with my new step-siblings I watched.

"Okay, Chase. You ready?" Big D asked. Chase nodded.

"Bring it on!" he exclaimed, getting into a fighting stance. Big D nodded.

"Alright, enemy grenade…three o'clock." Big D tossed the red glowing ball into the air at Chase, who raised hi hands. A massive plasma force field appeared around him. I looked at Bree.

"Did you see that?" I gasped.

'Yes Leo, I saw that." She said for the hundredth time. Man, she was really sucking the fun out of their powers. Adam looked at Bree and I.

'Hey, why does he get a force field and I don't?" he demanded. Bree smirked.

"Because if you had one, I wouldn't be able to do this." She tossed her water bottle at Adam. Big D walked past us, putting on a jacket.

"Okay, you guys take the rest of the day off. I'm going to go speak at a tech conference. Then I'm going to have the boats retailed and then I'm going to go get waxed." We all stared at him. "Don't judge me."

He left the room and I turned to Bree. "Well, we'd better get ready for school."

Bree sighed. "Oh, I've always wanted to go to school! Passing notes, going to Prom, breaking out into choreographed dance numbers after math class!"

"Yeah." Chase agreed. "All we do is eat, sleep and train for missions. We're like human lab rats."

I looked at Chase. "Come on, it can't be that bad!" Chase looked at me then pointed at Adam. Said bionic superhuman was jogging on a human sized hamster wheel. "So you've never left this room?"

"Nope." Chase replied.

"That explains the haircuts." I snarked. They all looked confused, but Adam grinned anyway.

"I bet school's fun! Except for books, classes and learning stuff." I smirked.

"It's not so much fun when you're the smart kid." I told them, more for Chase's benefit than the others. He smirked however.

"Yeah well down here, smartness reigns supreme." His siblings stared at him.

"No it doesn't." they said in unison.

"Hey, why don't you guys come to school with me today?" I suggested. "You can be my bionic bodyguards!"

"Okay!" "I'm in!" "Let's go!" we all ran for the door, but were stopped by Eddie.

"Not so fast laser brains." Eddie shut the door in front of us.

"Ah shoot! We forgot about Davenport's creepy computer." Adam cursed out bad luck. I stared at them.

"I thought he was only in the living room!" I exclaimed. Eddie's face appeared on the screen above Calla's desk.

"Nope. I'm everywhere. Even in your shower. And by the way, nothing needs to be that clean." I froze then looked at Adam, Bree, and Chase.

"We need to shut him down. NOW!" I demanded. Chase shook his head.

"We can't. Eddie is a very complex and sophisticated piece of machinery." While he talked, Adam looked at the wires beneath Eddie's screen. He then pulled out a handful of them and Eddie shut off.

'You were saying?" I smirked. Adam grinned.

"Sweet! I barely got electrocuted!" he exclaimed happily. Bree stopped him and Chase before they could run out.

"Okay, but if we're going to go to school, I think we should shower first. Because two of us really stink."

They headed back to their capsules that apparently had a built in shower and closet because when they emerged, they were dressed in normal clothes. But Adam and Chase's grimaces told me something was wrong.

"Uh Bree! It gave me your underpants!" Adam complained. She shuddered.

'What re you complaining about?" Chase asked. "I got her bra!" Bree shuddered again and the climbed back into their capsules.

**Calla's POV**

"Hey, Cal!" a voice called. I turned around and saw my best friends Rebeccka Beehler, Jessica Henderson and Kaitlin Mulligan walking up to me. They sat down next to me at our table in the lunch/breakfast room.

Kaitlin was a tall girl with straight brown hair. She was usually the quiet one of our little group, but lately she'd gotten a little more out going, a result of her dating my brother.

Rebeccka was short, African American, with curly black hair. Unlike Kaitlin, she was the outgoing one and usually the one we'd have to hold back from getting into cat fights.

Jessica was sort of a mix. She was tall, with long blonde hair. She was probably the most…spontaneous one of the group. She never thought things through, but that just made her ideas even more fun.

"What's up girls?" I asked, taking a bite of one of my breakfast burrito. Rebeccka looked at my burrito hungrily.

"That's a good looking burrito you've got…oh thank you." I gave her the second burrito. I always ended up getting her breakfast while she got me lunch.

"Hey, did you finish the science homework for Mrs. James?" Kailtin asked. I smirked.

"Let me guess, you were too busy on your date to do it?" I asked. Kailtin blushed and nodded. "I still can't believe you and Jay are going out. It's totally disgusting."

"Why?" Kaitlin asked.

"Because he's…well he's Jaden, that's why!" Wasn't that enough of an explanation? Suddenly, before Kaitlin could argue with me, there was a loud scream from the lobby. I stood up quickly, recognizing the voice.

"What was that?" Jessica demanded. I faked a smile.

"Probably some kid getting his pudding from Trent." I replied. "I'm going to go check it out."

I headed into the Lobby before they could argue with me. The first thing I saw was Chase on the ground. Adam was next to him, holding a locker door. Bree and Leo were staring at them.

"What was that?" Chase demanded. Leo smiled.

"It's called a bell. It rings eight times a day, every forty minutes…so have fun with that." I sighed, pushing through the crowd.

"What are you guys doing here?" I demanded. They all looked at each other guiltily.

"Um, we're checking out the school." Bree said. I nodded.

"I can see THAT, but you know that you guys aren't supposed to leave Mr. Davenport's house." I said. They all sighed. I smirked. "Which is why, when you all get caught, he's not going to find out that I knew you were here, got it?"

"You're not going to rat us out?" Bree asked. I shook my head.

"No way. Now, do you want to meet my BFFs or what?" Bree grinned and followed me back to the breakfast room. I looked at my now empty plate.

"Alright, who ate my burrito?" Rebeccka grinned.

"It was delicious!" she informed me. I sighed and sat down. Bree followed my lead. Rebeccka looked at her.

"And you are?" she prompted. Bree held out her hand.

"I'm Bree! I like ponies and girly things!" I tried so hard not to facepalm but while Kaitlin was absolutely confused, Rebeccka and Jessica jumped right in.

"Cool!" Becky exclaimed in the same excited tone. "I'm Rebeccka. I like drama and pink things!"

"I'm Jessica! I like boys and pretty things!" Jessica continued.

We all started to laugh. Kaitlin introduced herself and we ended up bringing Bree to all of our classes.

When we saw the boys again, we were in gym class. You see, afternoon gym was a mix of grades nine to eleven because there weren't that many of us still taking gym class.

"Ooh! Gotta go guys!" Kaitlin suddenly exclaimed before running off. It only took one glance at the tall, brown haired boy wearing the blue jersey to know where she was going.

"Who's that?" Bree asked. Rebeccka smirked when I refused to answer.

"Oh, that's Jaden, Calla's older brother. Kaitlin and him have been going out for about a week now." She explained. Bree nodded as Adam, Chase and Leo walked over to us. I introduced Rebeccka and Jessica to them and then they ditched us to go talk to Owen about some art project they were working on.

"So, how was your first day of school?" I asked. Leo spoke before they could.

"I HATE gym class!" he complained. Adam frowned at him.

"Why?" he asked as Leo was passed a ball. Leo tried, and failed tyo dribble the ball.

"That's why." I explained. Chase smirked.

"Right, what were you saying before?" he questioned.

"How was school?" I asked again. He grinned ear to ear.

"Great! I took some online medical courses and became a chiropractor in the Philippines!" I smiled, confused.

"Congrats?" I wasn't too sure about that.

"Heads up Bree!" Rebeccka called from across the gym. A basketball landed right in Bree's arms and she panicked.

"What do I do?" she screeched.

"Throw it!" I instructed. She did so, and hit some guy in the face, knocking him over. I bit back a laugh.

"Next time, try throwing it to someone who's looking." Leo suggested. Bree glared at him for a second, then ran over to make sure the guy was okay.

"Just once, I'd like to show all these fools up and go all NBA in their faces." Leo muttered. I laughed.

"But Leo, that's never going to happen." I reminded him. He glared at me.

"What makes you say that?" he demanded. I gestured to him.

"Because you're…you!" I explained. He glared at me. "Oh come on Leo! Look at yourself! There's more meat on a dog bone!"

Adam put his hands on Leo's shoulders. "Yeah but now, you have us to help you."

"Huh?" Leo was confused, but I could see where this was going.

"Adam, don't-" he completely ignored me and threw Leo through the air and towards the net. Leo just barely managed to get the ball in the net before falling down.

"Adam!" I scolded as the gym erupted into applause. He looked at me.

"Yes?" he sounded way too pleased with himself.

"Never mind." I sighed.

**Later that day**

"Attention students! The pep rally is starting! Go dingoes!" Principle Perry's vice came on the intercom as the cheerleaders began their routine. I was sitting next to Adam, Bree, and Chase, on the bleachers. Rebeccka, Jessica, Kaitlin, and Jaden, along with some of their friends, were off at the Fro-Yo store. I would have gone with them, but I wanted to keep an eye on the guys.

Leo was down by the court, autographing a basket ball for some random girl. Then he ran up to us, an excited grin on his face.

"You guys rock! Ever since gym class, everyone wants to be my friend!" he exclaimed. "AND there's been a certain gentleness to my wedgies."

"It's the least we could do!" Bree replied. "You gave us our first taste of freedom!"

"Yeah and our first taste of Sal's Berry Steak. Uh, yum." I smirked as Dewy Dingo, the team mascot, came up to Adam and began to mess with him.

"Aww, look. The doggy likes me." He said, happily. Then he got annoyed with Dewy as she (yes, it was a girl inside the uniform) continued. "Okay doggy, that's enough. I said that's enough!"

He walked off, Leo and Chase following him. I stayed behind with Bree to keep her company, but we weren't alone for long. Kaven, one of the cutest guys in my science class, walked up to us, his face swollen completely. I stared at Bree.

"You hit Kaven in the face with the ball?" I asked. She nodded, embarrassed. Kaven smiled at us, then looked at me.

"Hey, Calla, can I talk to Bree for a moment?" he asked. I nodded.

"Sure, she's all yours." I headed off to the boys, keeping an eye on the two love-birds. They were obviously flirting from what I could tell. But I was distracted quickly by Adam fighting with Dewy Dingo. "Should we stop that?" I asked Chase. He shook his head.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Really, 'cause his eyes are turning red."

"What?" Chase followed my gaze to Adam, who was about to fry Dewy Dingo.

"Oh no! His heat vision!" Chase exclaimed.

"His what?" Leo demanded.

"Heat vision. He sometimes glitches when he gets mad." I explained quickly as Adam set the poor mascot on fire. I ran, grabbed a fire extinguisher, then sped to put out the small fire atop the mascot's mask.

But Dewy, shocked from the fire and the sudden cold of the extinguisher, stumbled into the cheerleaders as they through Candace, their blonde headed leader, into the air. Bree ran to catch her, and missed.

"Oh man, Davenport is SO going to fire me." I muttered as the fire alarms went off. Chase tried to calm the panicking people, but only managed to scare them even more than they already were. It was chaos and the trouble tripled when Mr. and Mrs. Davenport walked into the gym.

"Uh-oh." I bolted out of the gym, hiding myself in the crowd before they could see me. Then I hid outside in the hallway.

I could hear yelling, mainly Mr. Davenport and some screaming from the kids still in the gym. Then they all left in their helicopter.

**Leo's POV**

"Hey Leo, heard you got grounded." Calla said, walking into the room. I glared at her.

"Where were you?" I grumbled. She sighed.

"Hiding so I wouldn't get fired. Want some Fro-Yo?" she offered me a cone. I took it, still upset.

"It's no fair that Big D is punishing them for wanting to have a life. I'm not even allowed to talk to them anymore." I complained. I shrugged.

"I know it's not fair. Why do you think I went along with that little stunt today?" she replied. I shrugged.

"Thanks for not rating us out." She smiled.

"No prob. But what are we going to do about them?" she asked. I smiled, an idea coming on. "What are you thinking of?"

"You said your brother's on the football team, right?" Calla nodded.

"Yeah, why?" I grinned.

"Well, seeing as Big D and my mom are going out tonight, why don't you get your brother to get that big party here?" Calla beamed.

"That's a great idea! Just one problem! I-" I cut her off.

"don't want to get fired. I know. We'll tell Big D that I lied to you about having permission to throw the party."

"I was going to say I wasn't sure if Jay could do that, but sure let's do that." She grinned, whipping out her cell phone. She dialled the number and waited for her brother to answer. I tried to eavesdrop on them.

"Hey Jay…not much, but I need a favour…you know that party that Melanie Desjardins is having?...think you can get it to be held at the Davenport mansion?...well, the house it WAY bigger than Melanie's and plus, it's a lot fancier…PLEASE…I'll give you my next pay check…well, doesn't she have a major crush on Trent, the quarterback? Get him to ask her and she'll totally say yes!...kay…well?...sweet! You rule! See you later tonight!"

I looked at her expectantly and she grinned. "They'll be here in ten."

"You're awesome!" I exclaimed. "I'm going to go tell the guys!"

I headed down the elevator into the lab, where Adam, Bree and Chase were talking. "Oh we've all done it!" Bree exclaimed.

"Done what?" I asked. They all looked at me in surprise.

"Leo, you're not supposed to be down here." Chase told me. I grinned.

"I know, but you know that party everyone at school's been talking about?"

"Yeah? What about it?" Bree asked. I nodded towards the elevator.

"Follow me." They did as I asked and stared at the living room that had been filled with teenagers in a span of five minutes. "It's in your living room."

Calla jogged over to us. "Now, do I throw a party, or do I throw a party?" she joked.

"I can't believe you guys did this." Chase exclaimed. Leo shrugged.

'Yeah, well I owed you guys and since you couldn't go, I brought the party here."

"Hey Bree, I've got a surprise for you!" Calla grabbed Bree's wrist and pulled her over to a friend of hers named Kaven, then walked back over to us and grabbed the bowl of chips out of my hands. "Ooh, Doritos!"

The party actually went better than I'd imagined. There were a lot of pretty girls in my house. Bree got a boyfriend with a really big nose, Chase and Adam had WAY too much cake, and I think Calla's friend Rebeccka was checking me out. I'm probably wrong about that last part, but I don't care!

Anyway, the party was going great. Too great. So great that I lost track of the time. I was supposed to clear the house out by ten, but it was still going on when my parents got home around eleven. And believe me, Big D was NOT happy.

"WHAT THE-" I cut him off with the horn of his golf cart.

"Hey, you're back!" I exclaimed nervously. Then I looked around. "How did these people get here?"

"You are in BIG trouble mister." My mother glared at me. Big D was even more upset.

"Hey everybody!" he caught the attention of every teenager in the room. "Thanks for coming! GET OUT!"

"Everyone started to file out the front door, but Big D reached forward and grabbed Calla before she could make her exit. "Sit." He ordered the five of us.

"You kids have really done it this time." Big D said seriously. "And who gave Eddie cake?"

Adam raised his hand guiltily. I sighed. 'We just wanted them to have one more night of fun before you put them back in their display cases."

"They're not display cases, they're…you know what? Forget it! As of tomorrow, you're all being relocated permanently."

"What?" we all gasped.

"What part of no contact with the outside world, did you not understand?" Big D demanded.

"Where are we going?" Bree asked quietly. She sounded scared.

"To one of my remote research facilities where you can continue your training." Big D replied.

"But this is home. This is where I get my meaty-flavour pellets!" Adam exclaimed.

"Not anymore. Now go downstairs and pack your stuff." Adam Bree and Chase, all still shocked by what had happened, did as he said, leaving me and Calla alone in the room.

Then Big D turned to Calla. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't fire you on the spot."

"In four months I was the only application that didn't quit after two days." She replied steadily, a hint of anger in her voice. She was just as upset with him as I was, maybe more because she'd known Adam, Bree, and Chase longer.

"Well go home and you might keep your job." Big D nodded to the door. Calla crossed her arms and walked out, saying a quick "bye" to me and my mom. I turned to Big D.

“This isn't fair." I told him. "Those guys are my best friends."

I walked off towards the lab, not even caring that I still wasn't allowed down there.

**Xxx**

Today was a sad day. Why was it sad? It was sad because my three best friends were leaving to who knows where for who knows how long. And it really wasn't fair.

We were all sitting in the lab, just the four of us. Calla had promised to come by as soon as she could, but she hadn't arrived yet. Adam was snacking on something, Bree and I were sitting on one of the counters, and Chase was stealing office supplies. I finally gave in after about ten minutes of watching him pack up pencils, erasers and staplers.

"What are you doing?" I questioned.

"If Davenport is going to ship us off to some remote facility, then the office supplies are going with us." Chase announced. I thought about that for a moment.

"Okay then." Bree sighed next to me.

"I can't believe this! We JUST got our first taste of normal life." She complained. "I was THIS close to getting a curfew that I was TOTALLY gonna break!"

"Ooh!" Adam exclaimed suddenly. "But maybe when we'll get to wherever we're going, we'll meet a sassy chimpanzee named Bobo that will take us on adventures and teach us how to love!" we all stared at him. Seriously, where did this guy get his ideas?

"Or maybe you'll make him angry and he'll maul you, then snack on your fingers." Chase suggested as he hopped up onto the counter next to me.

"HEY!" Adam stood up. "I create the monkey fantasies around here!"

Eddie popped up on a screen behind us. "Well kids, I hope you enjoyed your stay at Casa Davenport. I know I haven't. Sayonara!" I was tempted to have Adam rip out more of that Crappy A.I system's wires, but I knew that it wouldn't solve anything.

Bree sighed again. "Eddie, I know we've never been the best of friends…but we're really going to miss you."

"Aww, really?" Eddie seemed touched. Then the bionic siblings had to ruin the moment.

"No!" "We hate you!" "You're evil!" I chuckled at them.

"Hey, where is this 'training facility' anyway?" I asked, turning around so I could see Eddie's screen.

"Facility X? Oh, it's all the rage." Eddie changed his screen so that it showed off a beautiful tropical island. I was almost jealous.

"Lucky!" I whined.

"Yeah, that's pretty nice." Chase agreed.

"Oops, sorry!" Eddie changed back. "That's my screen saver! THIS is Facility X." he then changed his screen to show a government facility in the middle of a snow covered tundra.

"I take my previous comment back." I said, staring at the screen.

"Forget about office supplies." Chase said. "We should be gathering wood."

"Man!" I complained. "I wish Calla and I hadn't thrown that party! I can't help but feel this is all my fault."

"Oh, that's because it is." Adam agreed, patting me on the shoulder.

"Adam!" Calla scolded, walking into the room. "We didn't mean for this to happen! We were only trying to help you."

"It's funny how you enter the room almost as soon as Leo said your name." Chase pointed out. Calla shrugged.

"And I know you were only trying to help us, but you did the opposite, which is not help us. The not makes it the opposite." Calla looked at Adam then at Chase.

"Good luck with him." She said. Adam groaned.

"Sorry, I'm just so bummed. This is the only place we've ever known."

"Yeah." Chase agreed. "Just think about all the memories we shared here."

They all looked up into the distant, having some kind of flashback. Calla and I exchanged glances.

"Uh, guys?" I said. "You know we can't see your flashback, right?"

"Yeah, we know." Bree agreed. Calla cleared her throat.

"Anyway guys, you should go upstairs. Mr. Davenport has something very creepy that he wants to show Leo."

"What is it?" I asked, following her to the stairs. She shook her head.

"Creepy," was all she would say. When we got upstairs, we figured out why.

**Calla's POV**

"See?" I said. "Creepy."

In front of us were three robots duplicates of Adam, Bree, and Chase. They looked a lot alike, except they seemed paler, colder to me. Maybe that's because I'd already decided to hate them.

"So, what do you think?" Mr. Davenport asked. "Is this great or what? It'll be like they never left!"

Leo knocked on Robo-Adam's chest, a hollow echo coming from the metal doppelganger. Robo-Adam turned to Leo and flicked him in the head, hard.

"Well?" Mr. Davenport asked.

"I think the excitement of having a billionaire dad just wore off." Leo replied, rubbing his forehead.

"Yeah Donald, I don't know about this." Mrs. Davenport even seemed to dislike the robots. "I kind of prefer Leo to have friends that can't malfunction and tear him limb from limb."

"Calla? You at least like them, right?" Mr. Davenport asked, certain that I'd think they were cool.

"Let's see…what word did I use before?" I wondered aloud. "Oh yeah, creepy."

"Well you haven't seen how they work yet!" Mr. Davenport pressed a button on his watch and Robo-Adam stepped forward.

"Good morning." It said in a cold, heartless voice. "The time is 7:22 and the temperature is currently 68 degrees."

Adam looked at the duplicate, then at Mr. Davenport. "You built a robot of me that just stands around telling people the time and the temperature?" he asked. Mr. Davenport nodded and Adam's face lit up. "That's the coolest thing I've ever seen!"

He raised his hand for a high five that he never got. Bree then took a look at hers.

"Does my nose really look like that?" she asked.

The Robo-Bree replied "No, yours has a faint moustache underneath."

"Ooh!" we all tried not to laugh, but then Robo-Chase started to speak.

"Hey everybody, I'm Chase. Let's do ma-ma-ma-" it started to malfunction until Mr. Davenport hit it in the chest. "math."

We didn't even bother trying to stop laughing. "That's not funny!" Chase whined.

"You're right, It's fu-fu-fu-" Adam pretended to malfunction. "Funny."

We weren't laughing for long though, because the doorbell rang a second later and reality hit us like a bus. Mr. Davenport walked up to the door, letting Mr. Fitz (one of his workers) in.

"Hey Fitz, how's it going?" silence. "How's life?...How's Trix?" silence again. Mr. Fitz wasn't really a talker. "You should have seen him at the company Christmas party; he's a karaoke master."

"Well, I guess this is it." Bree said what none of us were able to. I held out my arms and we did one really big, really emotional group hug. I was really going to miss those guys and I could tell Leo was too.

"Thanks for everything guys." Bree said, pulling away.

"Yeah, you're the bets friends we've ever had." Chase agreed.

"They're the only friends we've ever had." Adam reminded him.

"Well," Mrs. Davenport cut in, hugging the lab rats. "Don't forget to bundle up on your deadly missions."

They started to walk away, but Davenport stopped them to tell them one last thing. "Remember this is a good thing. Without any distractions, you might finish your training early."

"Yeah, right." Chase muttered as they walked away, giving Leo and I one last wave before they left. Then we were stuck in a room with only Leo's mom and Mr. Davenport. I sighed, the tension in the air bothering me.

"Come on Leo, we're going to be late for school." We left without another word to Mr. Davenport. Make that another word at all; it was silent on our way to school. I guess we didn't really feel like speaking at all.

Even my friends seemed to realize something was wrong. Rebeccka offered to do my homework, Jessica bought me ice cream, and Kaitlin told me I could borrow her brand new, limited edition designer bag. But I was still in a bad mood when Leo and I walked back to his house after school.

I considered blowing off work, but something in my gut told me that I should go. Maybe I was worried about Leo, because he seemed to be taking it pretty hard and it wasn't like kids were lining up at school to make him feel better.

"So, you want to talk?" I asked as we walked into the lab. It was strangely quiet. Maybe because no one was in there except the three freaky robots.

"Don't you have work to do?" he asked. I shrugged.

"Yeah, but I have all night and plus; I don't think Mr. Davenport's gonna be to hard on me today." I replied. Robo-Adam walked up to us.

"Hello, insert name here and insert other name here. Would you like to engage in silly happy fun time?" it asked in a metallic voice. I tried to ignore them.

"Get lost, you can't replace my real friends." Leo snapped at it. "I really loved those guys."

"Same here." I murmured, sitting down on the far counter, by their old capsules. Leo followed me.

"Don't be sad Mr. Leo and Miss. Calla. Friends come and go, but robots are forever." Robo-Chase said, walking stiffly over to us. "Dibbly-dibbly. That is my version of a laugh. Dibbly-dibbly."

"Okay, those things are getting creepier every second I'm near them." I muttered to myself.

"Will you tin-heads get out of here?" Leo demanded, looking down at his comic book as I grabbed my work tablet and began to fill out reports.

"Sensing human hostility." Robo-Chase's voice made me look up.

"Must exterminate." Robo-Bree continued as me and Leo looked at each other, fear in our eyes.

"Robots attack." Robo-Adam began to chant. Eddie started cheering them on as they got closer to me and Leo. We looked at each other for a second, then screamed.

"AHHH!" we tried to get away from them, but Robo-Bree trapped Leo in her arms while Robo-Chase wouldn't let me go.

"AHHH!" we screamed again…as they burst out laughing.

"Leo, Calla, it's okay." Chase laughed.

"Yeah, we're not robots, it's really us." Bree said as we were released. We stared at them.

"Huh?" Leo was as confused as I was.

"We told the robots we forgot something and then we swapped the robots in our place." Chase explained. Adam got this big grin on his face.

"You said you loved us. You said you loved us. " He chanted, until Leo slapped him across the face. "OW!"

"It really is you guys!" Leo hugged the four of us, although I'd never gone anywhere. When we pulled away, I looked Chase in the eye, the smacked him.

"What was that for?" he demanded. I crossed my arms.

"You know I watch way too many robot movies!" I exclaimed. "Did you have to do that pretend let's all kill Calla and Leo thing?"

"Yes." He replied cheekily. I rolled my eyes at him.

'Wait, what about Mr. Davenport?" I asked.

"We'll just pretend to be robots whenever he's around." Chase replied as if was as simple as riding a bike.

"Hey Calla, hey Leo." Mr. Davenport chose that moment to enter the room. Adam, Bree, and Chase went rigid, holding poses that a robot might.

"Uh hi Mr. Davenport." I tried not to sound too guilty. I was usually a horrible liar, but he didn't notice anything was up.

"What are you guys doing?" he asked. Me and Leo exchanged looks.

"We are hanging with our robo fake people friends." Leo replied. Robo fake people friends? Looks like we both need a lesson in lying. Mr. Davenport looked at us.

"Really?" he asked, sounding surprised. I nodded quickly.

"Yeah, there ain't no part like a robot party 'cause a robot party don't stop." I sang. Mr. Davenport seemed to buy it.

"See I told you that you would like them. You just had to get usedto them." He said happily.

"Like them, we love them." Leo replied, just to get more teasing from Adam behind Mr. Davenport's back.

"Hey, do you know what's the greatest thing about having robots is?" Mr. Davenport asked, pulling out a device that he'd worked on a couple of weeks prior. Oh crap. I thought.

"What?" Leo didn't see where this was going.

"The yare virtually indestructible." Mr. Davenport replied. Leo's face fell slightly, finally catching on. "Just watch!"

He poked Adam with the taser ray and electrocuted him where he stood. Adam, being a very good actor, stood absolutely still, but obviously in pain.

"Quit it!" Leo exclaimed. I had my hand over my mouth, staring at Adam, Bree and Chase.

"It's alright Leo," Mr. Davenport assured him "they can't feel a thing. Watch!"

He electrocuted Chase twice, and then tried to electrocute Bree, but she stopped him.

"Don't even try it." She said in a robot voice.

"Oh, you're a feisty robot you." Mr. Davenport said before turning to Leo. I looked at Adam and Chase.

" _Are you okay?"_ I mouthed worriedly. They couldn't reply, but Chase faked a small smile for me.

"Your turn." Mr. Davenport announced, placing the taser ray in my hands. I looked at Leo, then Adam, Bree, and Chase, then Mr. Davenport.

"Uh, no thanks." I stuttered, but he was insistent.

"Come on do it. It's a lot of fun." He urged as I tried to protest. Leo sighed.

"Fine!" he grabbed the taser ray and electrocuted Mr. Davenport with it. He fell to the ground in a spasm.

"You're right, it is fun!" Leo exclaimed, making me, Adam, Bree, and Chase laugh.

**Leo's POV**

It was a couple of mornings after Adam, Bree, and Chase began their charade and so far, we'd managed to fool everyone. Calla was worried that Bid D would find out, but he was clueless as far as we knew.

"Alright, let's make this quick so we can get out of here and meet Calla." I said, holding up the food. "Adam for breakfast, you get wheat bread and a side of sugar packets."

"My favourite!" Adam cheered, digging in. I turned to Bree.

"Bree, you get tow old wings and a drumstick form the Chicken Shack." I gave her the box , then handed a banana peel to Chase.

"And Chase, you can have the peel to my banana." I said, grinning. "Enjoy."

Chase looked at me. "I'm not eating a banana peel." He said. I stared at him.

"You don't eat it. You just chew it until all the flavour's gone." I said. What, did this guy think I was crazy or something?

"Leo!" My mom greeted as she walked into the kitchen. Adam, Bree, and Chase dropped their food. "What's going on?"

"Mom!" I exclaimed. "Look at you, in the kitchen." Okay, Calla's right. I am horrible at hiding things. "We are just having a healthy breakfast."

"Honey, they're robots." My mom reminded me. "They don't eat."

The second she turned around they shoved so much food into their mouths, they looked like chipmunks.

"ANYWAY," I tried to distract my mom so she wouldn't see. "I was thinking today might be a good day to take them to school with me."

"YES!" Bree screamed, then remember that she was supposed to be a robot. "I mean, bee-dee-bee-beep. Bee-dee-bee-beep. Beep."

"Leo, you're not taking robots to school." My mom chose to ignore Bree's massive screw up. "Your teachers already think you're a little weird."

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"Because on your last report card it said 'we think Leo's a little weird.'"

"Mom…" I complained. She gave me a look. "Fine."

I stopped before leaving and looked at Adam, Bree, and Chase. "You guys stay out of trouble until I get back home. Alright?" They nodded stiffly, knowing my mom was watching. I ignored her and held out my arms. "Hug it out."

They gave me a hug and I jogged down to the bus station where Calla and I decided to meet. She frowned when I got there.

"I thought you were bringing Adam, Bree, and Chase." She looked at me with an alarmed expression. "They didn't get caught, did they?"

"No, don't worry. But my mom wouldn't let me leave the house with them." I replied. Calla gave me a sympathetic look.

"Yeah, that might be a good idea. The teachers already think you're a little weird."

"How do you know about that?!" I demanded. She smirked, the shrugged.

"I have my sources. Did you know that Mr. Corn wears a toupee?"

**Xxx**

"Leo! Wait up dude!" Calla ran after me as I bolted up the stairs to my house. "Man you can fly when you want to."

"Yeah, well, I wanted to hang out with Adam, Bree, and Chase." I defended myself as she gasped for breath. I was too, but I didn't care. That usually twenty minute walk had become a ten minute run. I guess I missed my new siblings. "Come on."

Calla followed me, still panting, into the house. Big D and my mom were waiting for us at the kitchen counter.

"Hey, where are the robots? I ran all the way home and this time I wasn't being chased by angry/hungry dogs!" I exclaimed. My mom gave Big D a look, then turned to me. Big D handed me and Calla each a glass of water.

"Leo…" my mom hesitated with a look to Big D. "The robots are gone. We just dropped them off at the recycling facility."

I did a spit-take while Calla just froze, the glass still held to her lips. "YOU WHAT?" I demanded.

"Yep, they're being melted down as we speak." Big D replied. Calla stared at him, wide eyed.

"Melted down?" her voice was shaking a little.

"Yeah, but don't tell anybody; they're probably toxic." He found this funny. How could he find this funny?

"No, we have to go get them!" I exclaimed. "They're not robots, they're real!"

"Okay, see? This is why I didn't want those things around!" my mom told Big D. 'He's delusional!"

"No, he's telling the truth. They really are Adam, Bree, and Chase!" Calla told my mom in a panicky voice. "You have to believe us!"

"Calla, don't encourage him." Big D told her, then he looked at me. "Leo, when I was your age, I had to say goodbye to a lot of my friends. There was Lavaman and Stretchlegstrong, and Jo-Jo Bigs, and all his friends in the space cantina."

"Those are action figures!" Calla exclaimed.

"More like fully posable pieces of my heart." Bid D teared up a little. She stared at him in disbelief, then grabbed my arm.

"Come on Leo." She pulled me down to the lab. I argued with her the entire way.

"What? We can't just let them die! Calla, are you listening to me? They going to die! This is life or death!" I yelled at her. She shook her head as she headed over to a wall near the capsules. She hit a couple of buttons on a garage door opener and the wall slid open, revealing a driveway. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"WE are going to go save their sorry asses." Calla replied, pulling out her cell phone and hitting a speed dial number.

"Hey Jay! Yeah, I need a ride…a recycling plant…long story, but lives are in danger…Okay, Leo's got neglectful parents who did something really stupid…I'll shut up if you give me and Leo a drive. Thanks bro. We'll meet you at the bus station." she looked at me.

"You coming or what short-stuff?" I grinned and followed her out the hidden door.

**Calla's POV**

This was probably the worst idea I'd ever had. And I'd had a lot of bad ideas in the past fifteen years. Jaden had dropped us off outside the center and Leo and I'd climbed into a garbage truck. We hoped it would take us to Adam, Bree, and Chase.

"AHHH!" I screamed as I fell out of the truck and into a large machine. I was surrounded by garbage and stinky things and all I wanted to do was get out of there. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option.

I got to my feet and stared at Adam, Bree, and Chase, who were standing right at the exit door.

"Oh come on!" I complained loudly. All that work for nothing. And then I realized something. The wall behind us? Yeah, it was moving. Moving towards a giant crusher, then another crusher, and finally a wall of fire. I was going to die in a recycling plant. "Funny." I muttered nervously. "This is what I get for recycling."

"Leo? Calla?" Adam gasped. Leo glared at them.

"No, it's Itchy and Scratchy!" he yelled. I smirked at the Simpsons reference. "Get us out of here!"

Just then Mr. Davenport and Tasha came through the door on the other side.

"Mr. Davenport!" Bree exclaimed. Adam started to pretend he was a robot.

"Hello we are robots." He said. Chase glared at him.

"Dude, I think he knows." He said coldly.

"Well, he does now." Adam retorted. Hot steam started blowing on either side of us. Leo and I looked at each other, then screamed, reminding them that we were still about to die.

We started pushing on the wall, trying to stop it. It was useless and I think we both knew that, but fear makes you do irrational things.

"Leo!" Tasha exclaimed.

"I'm here too!" I screamed back.

"I'll find someone to shut it down!" Mr. Davenport started to run out, but Bree stopped him.

"There isn't enough time!" she told him. Chase looked at Leo and I, then at his siblings.

"Guys, I have an idea!" he lit up. Three minutes later, Leo and I still pushing against the wall, another load of screaming garbage fell in front of us. Wait, screaming garbage?

Adam, Bree, and Chase stood up and I looked at them. "Oh, great. Now we can all die. Yippee." I muttered.

"That never gets old!" Adam grinned, standing up.

"What are you doing here?" Chase demanded, looking at both me and Leo.

"Saving you?" I suggested.

"Aww, thanks. We're good." At least Adam seemed to appreciate our efforts. "Sweet kids."

"Come on, let's just do this!" Bree hurried them along. Chase nodded.

"Okay. Leo, Calla, hold onto Adam. We're going to surround you and then we're all going to go through it together. Okay?"

I nodded and grabbed Adam tightly. We were about to run through when Leo stopped us.

"Hey, what's that?" he asked, walking up to a red button and pressing it. Suddenly, the machine shut down. I hit the wall behind me, weak with relief.

"That would be the off button." Chase replied. Leo grinned widely.

"Yeah…" Adam was smiling as well. "Oh, you guys didn't see that?"

I stared at him in utter disbelief, and then sighed. "Oh, screw this!" I muttered, storing out of that hellhole.

**One hour later**

We walked in the door and Eddie appeared, ready to make some smart-alec remark. I glared at him. "Not one word."

"I don't know what you kids were thinking, pulling a stunt like that. You could have been seriously injured." Mr. Davenport scolded. I sat down on the couch next to Chase. He, along with his super-siblings, looked worn out.

"Yeah, but you have to admit, my robot accent was dead on." Of course Adam thought it was all a joke. At that moment, I sort of envied his small minded perception.

"Can we please take him back to the recycling center?" Chase asked hopefully. Adam smiled, liking the idea.

"Chase…" I warned under my breathe, just loud enough for him to hear.

"And Calla, Leo, why didn't you tell us Adam, Bree, and Chase were still here?" Tasha asked us.

"Because we were trying to protect our friends." Leo replied. I nodded.

"Yeah. Mr. Davenport was going to send them away and we couldn't stand the thought of losing them." I looked at said bionic teenagers and smiled.

"And we're still going to protect our friends." Leo walked up to Mr. Davenport with an angry look on his face. I stood up as well.

"Yeah, that's right. If you want to send them away, you have to go through us first." I said, crossing my arms.

"It's go time little man!" Leo exclaimed, readying for a fight. "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog. There's a lot of fight in this little doggie."

Mr. Davenport gave Tasha a look as Leo said this. I was just trying to keep a straight face, but it wasn't easy. I mean the kid was jumping around like a squirrel on a sugar rush! Finally, Mr. Davenport had had enough. "Leo! Calm down! They're not going anywhere!"

"Oh, don't you…wait, what?" I think Leo understood what he'd said at the same time as the rest of us. Adam, Bree, Chase, and I exchanged looks.

"Watching you guys risk your lives for each other made me realize something. Maybe I've been focusing too much on training the super-human side of you and I forgot all about the human part." We all stared at him.

"Aww…" Adam read my mind, then. "I don't get it." I shook my hand at him.

"You're teenagers and bionic or not you deserve to experience teenager things, like school, and classes and cell phones-"

"YES! A cell phone! I'm living the dream!" Bree exclaimed, jumping up.

"You're not getting a cell phone." Mr. Davenport said quickly, disappointing her. I grinned, knowing full well that he was going to get them cell phones before the week was over. "But what I can give you is another chance. Maybe there's a way that you can live here, go to school, and still go on missions."

"Are you serious?" Chase sounded shocked.

"They can stay?" I asked. Mr. Davenport nodded.

"On one condition. No one can EVER find out about your bionics. Ever. And you have to control your emotions so you don't glitch out in public."

"Done." "Okay." Absolutely." They agreed in a nano-second.

"Alright then." Mr. Davenport hugged Leo and Tasha. 'Welcome home!"

They all cheered, but as they did Adam's hand blasted out a large plasma grenade towards the ceiling. We all hit the floor as the room shook and the chandelier fell and the kitchen was destroyed. "Uhh, whoops?"

"He has plasma grenades? My life just got a whole lot more awesome." Leo grinned as Chase helped me up. He's right about that, I thought. These guys were going to make life a little more interesting.


	2. Commando App

**Bree's POV**

"Ughh! What is taking Mr. Davenport so long?" I complained. "I want to go to school!"

"He has to finish the tests Bree." Chase told me, looking back at his schedule.

"Yeah, but Calla was going to meet us at the bus stop, and you know how impatient she gets, especially in the rain." I pointed out. Calla had texted me not twenty minutes before hand, telling me to bring a coat. Apparently, it was raining cats and dogs.

"She can wait just a few more…or not." Chase smirked as Calla walked in, carrying her back pack and rain coat. "Speak of the devil."

"You were talking about my brother? Why?" Calla asked jokingly. Then "What's taking you guys?"

"Mr. Davenport wants to run some tests for glitches before we go." Adam explained. Calla nodded then looked at Chase's schedule. "Oh! Do you know what classes we have together?"

She didn't wait for an answer, instead taking the schedule out of his hands, and then grabbed Adam's, Leo's and my schedule. "Okay, so one class with Leo; it's Spanish, English with Bree, math and study hall with Adam, and three with Chase. Spanish, English, and Chemistry…dude, you signed up for a cooking class?" she stared at Chase. He nodded.

"You know only girls take that class, right?" Leo pointed out. Chase nodded again, a sly smirk on his face.

"Yep. Me, and a bunch of pretty ladies. One room, forty minutes a day." Calla laughed.

"Smart boy." She commented as Mr. Davenport walked back over to us.

"Oh, you let yourself in, did you?" he asked her before he turned to us. "Okay. You have been trained for all kinds of missions, but you are about to enter a soul bruising, confidence crushing, apocalyptic environment; High school."

Leo and Calla both shuddered dramatically. "Adam, Bree, your glitch results are fairly stable." Mr. Davenport continued.

"Yes!" I cheered. "I'm going to school."

"I'm fairly stable!" Adam announced proudly.

"Wait, what about me?" Chase asked. Mr. Davenport sighed.

"Chase, I'm still concerned about your commando app." Leo frowned.

"Commando app? Put on some underpants, we're going to school!" Leo exclaimed, a disgusted look on his face. Calla shook her head.

"Not that kind of commando Leo." She muttered.

"No, see in the face of an imminent threat, Chase's commando app kicks in and he becomes a fearless brute I like to call Spike." Leo seemed pretty excited about that. Poor, naïve Leo. "It's kind of like a fight or flight part because it's useless and replaced it with a massive level of like a Tasmanian devil, wolverine, shark, lion hybrid…that's mad." The entire time Mr. Davenport spoke, Leo's grin got bigger and bigger.

"Don't worry Mr. Davenport." Chase assured our inventor "I promise that Spike won't rear his ugly head."

"Oh, yeah, you mean like last Christmas when I made the mistake of giving Adam boxing gloves?" Mr. Davenport reminded him. Calla smirked; while the rest of us had been trying to calm Spike down, she'd sat calmly inside the safety of my capsule, videotaping the whole thing.

"Ughh!" Adam shuddered. "I'm still coughing up tinsel."

"You know, letting Chase go to school is a bad idea." Mr. Davenport decided. "I can't risk Spike coming out."

Chase looked devastated at the thought of us leaving him here, so Leo stepped in. "Come on Big D, he has to come. With these three I finally have a chance to get a prime spot in the cafeteria. That's right y'all. Put on your coats because I'm about to ride your tail."

"Don't worry Mr. Davenport. We'll make sure he stays out of trouble." I said as Adam got distracted by something in a box. Probably something shiny.

"Yeah, it's one for all and all for one." Calla agreed. I hesitated there, sending glares at my brothers.

"Unless of course you fools make me look bad, in which case I am dropping you lamos." I pointed out. Calla thought about it.

"Agreed." She smiled at me.

"Mr. Davenport, I can't miss school." Chase begged. "This is the beginning of my academic achievements and career trajectory. I mean, the road to becoming an astronaut lawyer has to start somewhere."

"Wait, they have lawyers in space?" Adam asked, holding something in his hands.

"Adam, they don't have…what are those?" Calla asked. I looked at his hands and saw that he was wearing his bowing gloves.

"Alright, but I'd better not get a call from the art teacher saying that Spike ripped out her larynx." Mr. Davenport relented. Calla raised her hand.

"Umm, sir…" she started, but was stopped.

"Yes, I know she wouldn't be able to say anything because Spike would have ripped out her larynx." He snapped at her. She smiled and held out her hands in an I-surrender motion.

"Just checking." She replied.

"The point is, just keep him out of trouble!" Mr. Davenport told us. We all nodded as Adam held out his hands.

"Hey, check out what I found!" he started punching the air, but accidently sucker punched Chase, sending him sprawling to the ground. Adam gasped and pushed me in front of him. I was trying not to laugh. Leo and Calla were hiding snickers behind their hands while Mr. Davenport stared at Adam.

"Look, I'm sorry but if he's going to stand that close to the gloves, it's gonna happen!"

**Later, after first period**

So far, so good. My first period class had been Chemistry. But even though we started a little late, it was only early October and the teacher knew I was new, I didn't have to do too much work. I was lucky too because although none of my siblings or Calla were in that class with me, my new friends Rebeccka and Kaitlin were, so at least I knew some people.

But everything started to go down hill at breakfast. See my school served breakfast between first and second period. I met up with my brothers (fresh out of gym class. They smelled like it too), Calla, and Leo. Immediately, we saw one of the teachers, a short, ugly woman, talking to one of the students.

"Okay newbies. That's Principle Perry." Leo pointed to the woman. "She's goat the temperament of a junkyard dog stuffed into a really bad pants suit."

"In other words, avoid her, and you'll live longer. Anger her…and well, we'll be buying you a coffin." Calla told us. I looked at her, expecting her to smirk, but she looked completely serious. That terrified me.

"HEY YOU!" Principle Perry yelled at George, one of the students in my chemistry class. "No tongue rings in school! Don't try to hide it; I'll take a metal detector to your face."

"I believe you about that coffin." I whispered to Calla.

"Good, because the last time I tried to warn a student, it was Kyle McMillan." She replied.

"Who's Kyle McMillan?" Adam asked.

"Exactly." Was the reply. I was about to say something , but then I saw a cute boy coming my way. I squealed quietly, then looked at Calla.

"This is it! My chance at romance." I exclaimed. "On TV, the new girl always drops her books and the cute guy with the soulful eyes picks them up!"

"Uh, Bree…" Calla started to say, but I tuned her out., dropping my books theatrically. Unfortunately, the cute boy didn't pick them up. My Chemistry teacher, Mr. Corn, tripped on them and fell backwards, his papers flying everywhere. He sent me a glare as he stood back up.

"Opps! Sorry, I'm new." I apologized quickly, bending down and picking up the books.

"Okay," Leo told Chase and I. Calla was too busy looking at something on her phone and we'd managed to lose Adam. "Your social life depends on where you sit. We can't sit at the cool table," he gestured to a table with cheerleaders and Adam sitting at it. "But we can be cool table adjacent." He pointed to an empty table next to the cheerleaders.

"FYI, Adam's sitting at the cool table." I pointed out. Leo and Calla looked horrified as they watched Adam mess around with oranges, making the girls laugh.

"WHAT?!" They exclaimed in sync.

"He can't sit there! That's where the football players sit with the cheerleaders!| Calla exclaimed, shocked that Adam would do such a thing. Personally, I didn't see the big deal.

"Yeah, and they pride themselves on finding very clever places to stuff your pudding cup." I didn't even want to know where those places were.

Of course, the bad part of the situation went right over my brother's head. "Those girls are actually talking to them." He gasped. "and they can't talk about shaped and colours forever. See ya!"

"Chase!" Calla tried to grab his shirt, tried to stop him, but failed. Chase sat himself down right next to one of the cheerleaders and introduced himself.

"This is bad. This is really bad." Calla muttered. I looked at her and Leo.

"Is it really that bad?" I asked. They nodded silently.

"The football players are going to turn them into the fifth food group!" Leo exclaimed. Calla took a deep breath.

"Alright, rescue mission. Let's go." She walked slowly over to the cheerleader table, Leo and I following.

"Oh hey guys!" Adam greeted us. "Guess what? These girls just told us that when the football players get here, I'm getting a free pudding cup."

Leo and Calla exchanged glances. I guess they must have seen people "get free pudding cups" a lot, and knew what to expect. But when the cheerleaders turned to Leo, he seemed to fall under their spell.

"Hi! How's it going?" he said. The cheerleader started talking to him and I decided that there was no hope for the males of our species. None at all. I could see Calla whispering to Chase, probably trying to get him to leave, but he was certainly not in any hurry.

Suddenly, the doors at the end of the hallway opened and eight boys, all wearing jerseys came in. At the lead was a tall guy wearing a blue baseball hat. He looked at Leo, more like glared, and sniffed the air loudly. Leo stepped away quickly.

"Sorry." He said quietly. The football player glared at Chase, who was still sitting at the table. Calla was still besides him, but it looked as if she was trying to figure out a way to sneak away.

"Hey, that's my seat. Get lost before I use you like a napkin." The football player told Chase, a smirk on his lips.

"Chase, we should probably go." Calla stood up shakily. "He's not very absorbent." She told the football player. He wasn't done with Chase though.

He took Chase's drink and dumped it all over the table. "Oh! A spill, I think I'm going to wipe it off with your face."

"Trent, that's enough. You've made your point." One of the football players placed a hand on the football player's shoulder. He was tall with brown hair and blue eyes. It took me a minute, but I recognized him as Jaden, Calla's older brother. They really looked alike, especially in the face.

"I decide when it's enough Jay." Trent snapped, but it didn't matter. Because something had changed. There was something different in the atmosphere that made me step back. Calla and Jaden too. Chase then grabbed Trent's shoulders and pinned him to the table. I was shocked. Well, actually, everyone in the cafeteria (they were all watching by this point) was shocked.

"Think again bubblemick!" Chase yelled in a scary, deep voice that was not his own. "I'm going to rip out your kneecaps and use them as hockey pucks!"

"Oh, crap." Calla was beside me now. "Oh, crap, crap, crap. This is not going to end well."

"What's going on?" Leo demanded. "Is that Spike?"

I nodded as Adam ran over to us, stumbling over chairs. "Okay, I don't want to alarm anyone, but I think Spike's back." He told us. We all nodded as Spike let go of Trent and pushed him into his friends.

"You have no idea who you're messing with, okay?" Trent yelled. Spike glared at him with deadly hatred. "PUDDING CUPS!"

Two nerds ran up and placed some chocolate pudding cups in Trent's hands.

"Oh, I'll take those!" Spike said, taking the pudding. He squeezed them hard, spraying Jaden, Trent and the rest of the football team in pudding. They all wiped themselves off angrily.

"You're dead!" Trent announced. Jaden nodded.

"So dead." Great, now the only one of them on our side hated us too. Spike wasn't fazed though, as he roared in their faces. They all ran for the hallway. Trent tried to cover for their fear.

"Okay, you-you're lucky that we have to go to the reading center right now!" he yelled as he retreated. We all exchanged looks as the entire cafeteria stared at Spike. Then they burst into applause. It pleased Spike apparently; he looked proud. Chase would be horrified.

"Take a seat compadres; this our table now." Spike sat down at the cheerleader's table as Calla started to back away slowly. Adam stopped her.

"Where're you going?" he asked curiously. She jerked her head at the door.

"I wanted to make sure Jay was alright." She explained. Spike glared at her.

"Sit." He ordered. She gulped fearfully.

"Yes sir." She sank into a chair.

"Hello ladies." Leo didn't seem to be as bothered by Spike as Calla was. "You may remember me from Health class, when I passed out during the miracle of life video. It's good to see you again." I slammed my head on the table. I really hoped no one knew he was my step brother.

**2 Periods later**

Well, that morning didn't go as bad as I thought it would. I was lucky though; I didn't take the cooking class like Chase did. But according to Jessica, Kaitlin, and two firefighters that had arrived here, Spike didn't use the oven for cooking, unless you count burning footballs as food.

I had math with him during third however, and that didn't go so well. Our teacher, Mr. Bradley, had to go down to the nurses office ten minutes in and Spike had terrified the other kids into doing Kaitlin, my, and his homework for us. On the upside, I was totally going to get an A.

After that class, we (Leo, Adam, Calla, and I) were following behind Spike as he patrolled the halls, looking for the football players. According to Calla, she'd caught up with her brother during second and told him to steer clear of Spike for the rest of the day. Apparently, he gave his friends the same advice. In fact, Jaden had given his lunch as long as she kept 'her psycho maniac of a friend' away from him.

Anyway, all the other kids that Spike hadn't scared basically worshipped us, so it was actually kind of fun.

"Alright, make way for the Alpha dogs! Woo, woo, woo!" Leo chanted as he got high fives from random kids. Calla and I rolled our eyes as Adam tried to stop him.

"Don't do that." He told Leo. Leo stopped. Then I had an idea.

"Wait, if we're the Alpha dogs, then…" I smiled and threw my books on the floor. Kaven, and two other boys raced to pick them up for me. I squealed. "Ooh, I love this!"

I smile at the cute boys as they gave the books back to me. One of them even slid his number on top! Then some kid, he wasn't in any of my classes, walked up and handed Spike a piece of paper.

"What's this?" Spike asked, looking at it. Calla's eyes widened.

"That's an all access hall pass. It lets you go anywhere, even the Teachers lounge!" she exclaimed.

"How do you know that?" Leo asked.

"They hand them out to the football players." She explained. "How do you think I got all my blackmail on the teachers?"

"Wait, he can go anywhere he wants with that?" Adam asked, an idea forming.

"I can go anywhere I want already." Spike was definitely smug. "These," he showed off his muscles "are my hall passes."

He started flexing creepily. "Okay, if he starts oiling up, I'm out." Leo muttered to Adam. I nodded in agreement.

Suddenly, Spike hesitated, staring at two girls. He let his arms drop and then looked at us, confusion in his eyes. "Commando app disengaged? Guys?" he asked timidly. But it wasn't Spike, it was Chase. "Why was I in commando mode?"

"Were you in commando mode?" "I didn't see a commando mode." "Spike wasn't here, that's for sure." Leo, Calla, and I lied through our teeth.

"Oh, that's good! Everyone keep lying!" Adam grinned stupidly. Chase was freaking out.

"You guys were supposed to watch out for me!" he exclaimed, visibly upset.

"Oh, we watched the whole thing." Leo promised. "You man handled the quarterback and pudding popped the whole offensive line!"

Chase stared at him. "WHAT?!" He was still distressed, so I decided against telling him about the homework part. "Oh great, this is so going to come back to haunt my Supreme Court nomination."

"You know what Spike would say to that?" I asked him. "Nothing! He would rip out your ribcage and play it like a xylophone!"

"Yeah! I liked him!" Adam whined. "He's like a big, bad monster inside your little body."

"I'll get Spike back!" Calla offered. She walked up to Chase, then slapped him across his face.

"Ow!" he exclaimed. Calla sighed, then turned back to us.

"Well, that was the best I got? Who wants a try?" Leo pushed her out of the way.

"This is how it's done." He told her, then faced Chase. "Get lost before I use you like a napkin!"

He then tried, and failed to pick Chase up. Said brainiac looked bored and unamused at Leo's attempts.

"Yeah, this isn't going to work." Leo said, turning back to us.

**At lunch**

We sat down at the popular table, seeing as it was empty. Plus the four of us (Chase not included) enjoyed the popularity. Chase on the other hand, hated how we'd gotten it. As for the football players, they were sitting at a table close to the garbage, one of the worst spots in the cafeteria. They were all glaring at us.

"Hey baby, want a nibble?" Leo offered one of the cheerleaders. Chase's head shot up.

"Hey, there's Trent. Maybe I should go apologize." He said. I looked behind me and saw the Trent and Jaden entering the cafeteria.

"Whoa! Slow it up buttercup!" I grabbed his arm and forced him to sit down again.

"Mail him a greeting card." Leo suggested. "It's so much more personal."

"Hey guys, look!" Adam held out his plate. "The cheerleaders cut up my food into tiny pieces. I'm eating a turkey burger through a straw! Mmm, giblety."

"Congratulations." Calla patted his arm.

"Hey! New kid! Get over here!" the school Principle walked over to us, looking at Chase. He looked at us worriedly, then stood up and faced her.

"Yes?" I didn't blame him for being scared; that woman was terrifying.

"Do you know what happens when my football players get humiliated?" she demanded. He shook his head quickly, glancing at the football players who were now coming towards him. "No, you don't! You know why? Because my football players DON'T get humiliated."

"They look pretty humiliated to me." Adam pointed to the table. The janitor was squeezing through the tiny space between them and the wall and was accidentally hitting all of them with the garbage bag. They looked miserable. But Chase was giving Adam this look and mouthing the words 'Shut up'

"I know what team spirit is about." Principle Perry continued. "Because I was the jammer on the north pacific roller derby championship team."

"Quite an accomplishment." Chase said nervously. I didn't blame him; I don't think any of us knew where she was going with that little story.

"Don't mock me squash face!" Principle Perry snapped at him. "My career ended when a trash talker like you got inside my head and I wiped. One zebra called it the worst single body collision she'd ever seen."

"I'd crash too if I saw a talking zebra." Chase joked. Principle Perry was not pleased.

"It's a referee you desk donkey!" she yelled in his face, making him take a step back. "Trent told me what you did this morning at breakfast. You will not undermine the morale of my team." She turned to all of us. "Evacuate this table. Now!"

We all got up, ready to leave, but Chase had other ideas. And by Chase, I mean Spike. He got in Principle Perry's face, all pissed off.

"Watch who you're talking to sports bra." He growled.

"Not again." Calla muttered beside me.

"I bet you panicked, threw yourself off the track, and blamed the other team for your weakness." He sneered at her. The entire cafeteria was staring at him again. It's one thing to challenge the entire football team, but the principle too? That took guts, or craziness. It was the latter in this case.

"Do you think this Spike thing's gotten a bit out of hand?" Leo asked. Calla nodded.

"Oh totally." She agreed. I nodded.

"He might have crossed the line at sports bra." I admitted. Leo and Adam both agreed.

"I had to quit because of that accident!" Principle Perry tried to defend herself.

"Quit, or move out the city in shame?" Spike asked, glaring at her. A chorus of 'ooh's rang out in the cafeteria.

"He doesn't know." Principle Perry obviously didn't like that he was very likely telling the turht. In fact, I was almost sure of it. "He wasn't there!"

"Why don't you hop in your economy car and drive along home to your six cats and online bingo tournament?" Spike suggested unkindly.

"Jokes on you!" Principle Perry argued. "I have five cats! Hah!"

Principle Perry started to walk away, but Trent and Jaden both stopped her. "Oh, what is he doing now?" Calla demanded.

Principle Perry walked back over to us, the football team following her with smirks on their faces. "Alright kid; I'll make you a deal. Let's be civilized and settle this the old fashioned way; with a bone crushing grudge match on the football field." The football players started cheering.

"We're in." Spike decided. "Me, him, her, her and…and him." He pointed to Leo last and with much hesitation. Jaden however, did not look happy.

"You and your band of nobodies versus my fighting dingoes." Principle Perry on the other hand, was pleased. I looked at Calla.

"Who's she calling a nobody? I got half a BFF necklace today!" I said proudly. Calla smiled.

"Yeah, I know. Jessica showed me earlier." I told her.

"The winner takes the table, and all the glory." Principle Perry decided.

"Oh, m'am, as much as I would like to flew my football fanciness, girl's soccer has the field tonight." Leo pointed out. I breathed sigh of relief. I did NOT want to play football.

"Ahh, just as well. I can't condone such a violent game on school grounds." Principle Perry sighed. "SO LET'S TAKE IT TO THE DOG PARK ACROSS THE STREET!"

The football players and Principle Perry cheered and left, all except for Jaden. He had a very serious, very calm look on his face. Spike glared at him.

"What are you still doing here?" Spike demanded. Jaden ignored him and looked pointedly at Calla.

"You are not playing football tonight." He said calmly. Calla looked momentarily confused.

"Umm, yes I am. Did you not hear Spi…I mean Chase? He pointed at me and said 'her'. I think that was pretty clear." Calla replied.

"You're not playing." Jaden insisted.

"Yes, I am." Calla argued.

"No, you're not." Jaden said, this time a little forcefully.

"Why not?" Calla demanded. Jaden looked at her.

"You'll get yourself killed!" he exclaimed.

"I'm playing, Jaden." Calla said defiantly. Jaden shook his head.

"Not if I have anything to do with it." He argued. Calla sighed, and then looked at Spike.

"Spike?" she asked hopefully. Spike grinned, then roared at Jaden. Even obviously over protective big brothers are afraid of Spike, it seemed. Jaden ran away with his tail between his legs.

"You want to kick their asses, don't you?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah." Leo looked at her, then us.

"Am I the only one who's going to need a fresh pair of pants before we start?" he asked. Adam raised his hand.

**At the dog park**

Leo stared at the massive, six feet tall football players in fear. We were in the dog park, surrounded by people waiting for us to get buried. Except for Jessica and Rebeccka; they were cheering for us. They were the only ones. Even Kaitlin was cheering for the other side.

"This doesn't seem fair." Leo pointed out the obvious. Principle Perry shrugged.

"Seems fair to me. Let's get it on." She replied then blew her whistle.

"Okay, let's huddle." Calla instructed. Leo followed her back a few steps, but we frowned at them.

"Huh?" "Pardon me?" "I huddled before I got here."

"Oh man, you guys haven't played football before." Calla realized. She turned to Leo. "Please tell me you have."

"I've watched football games." He said. She sighed loudly.

"Fine, it'll have to be good enough." She said, turning to us. "Okay, short version: we need to stop that team from getting the ball into our end zone and scoring a-"

She was cut off by the other team running behind us, scoring a point, and then Trent tackled Leo. "A touchdown." She finished. "Like that. Stop that."

"Got it." I said. It was out turn with the ball, so Calla led Adam off in front of us.

"Okay Adam, you bend down here." She instructed. "And when I say hike, you pass the ball between your legs, which will be down here." She shoved her hand underneath him.

"Hey! It's called football, not hands ball." Adam clearly did not like where her hand was. He stood up, not wanting to do it.

"Hey nugget head!" Spike called, moving to where Adam had been previously. "Stop sucking air and hike her the ball. Like this." He grabbed the ball and hiked it to Calla. She caught it with ease, but two of the players rushed at her, picked her up, and carried her into the end zone before she knew what was happening.

"UGHH!" Spike complained loudly as she walked back over to us. "Losing makes me want to rip out my own intestines and wear them like a sweatband."

"Oookay." Leo ignored him and turned to us. "The only way we're going to win is if we use your super speed, you super strength, and your…super nutty spilt personality."

"I'll do whatever it takes." I said. "I already smell like a sweaty ape and I don't want this to be for nothing."

"Plus, I want to see Jay's face when we crush him." We all stared at Calla.

"Okay, Spike's not the only nutty one here." Leo commented. She rolled her eyes at him. "Anyway, here's what we're going to do."

With both Calla and Leo's help, we came up with a plan. We then got in position. "Whoo! Yeah! Go team!" I did a sweeping high kick into the air. Adam looked at me. "I'm a football player and a cheerleader! I'm that good!"

He smirked, then reached down for the ball. Leo gasped loudly. "Hey! Is that a Biggy Burger truck pulling up?" Everyone looked where Leo was pointing while I super speeded around, tying up their shoe laces. They didn't even notice. "Guess not. Hike!"

Adam tossed Leo the ball as the other team realized what I'd done. Leo passed the ball to Spike, who a point of hitting several of them to the ground before scoring our first touchdown. He let out a roar of victory as everyone cheered. Calla and I started doing my cheerleading routine, and even Adam jumped in. We stopped for a minute to look at him.

"What?" he asked. "If Bree can be a cheerleader, I can too." Calla and I shrugged and continued cheerleading and Leo started doing this weird dance.

We played like that for the rest of the game. We actually had fun too. Leo got to pretend he was good at a sport, Spike clobbered Jaden (I'm not sure whether Calla was upset or pleased. I think she was a little of both), and Adam and I got to cheerlead. By time we hit the last ten seconds, I was wishing we could play some more.

"Seven seconds left, the score's fourteen to twelve. Now remember kids, there's no shame in losing. Oh wait, there is!" Principle Perry laughed, walking away from us. Calla took a deep breath.

"Alright, you guys know what to do. Spike, it's up to you." She said calmly, but I could see she was on the verge of panicking. She needed to win this game.

"Give me the ball. If I don't come back with their spleens, you'll know I've failed." Spike said confidently. He walked over to the other team, probably to taunt them, but stopped suddenly. He turned back to us, confusion in his eyes.

"Wait, where am I?" Chase, not Spike, demanded. "And…am I wearing a jockstrap?"

"Oh no. It's Chase!" Calla was no longer on the verge of panicking. She WAS panicking. She reached at Chase, smacking him all over. "We need Spike back. Where is here? Where is Spike?"

Adam had to pull her away as she begged for Spike. "Hey, is there a problem over there?" Jaden called, having seen his sister attack Chase like that.

"Time out!" Leo called. Calla took a deep breath, glaring at Chase. She really wanted Spike back.

"I told you I don't want to be Spike!" Chase said. "Look, I've been waiting for my first day of school for fifteen years and now I can't remember any of it."

"When you put it that way, I just feel selfish." Leo said sadly. I nodded.

"Yeah." I agreed. Calla sighed irritably.

"I guess." She muttered. Adam put a hand on Chase's shoulder and looked like he was going to say something meaningful and deep, but instead hit Chase's helmet.

"Oh come on. Snap out of it. I want to win!" he yelled.

"We can still win this thing!" Chase argued. "And even if we don't, what do we have to lose?"

"Our table" "popularity" "dignity" "everything" we answered.

"Come on!" Trent rushed us. "Are we playing football, or are we playing putt-putt?"

"Okay, here's the plan." Calla said, pulling us together. "I'll do a flee flicker toss to you," she nodded at Chase, who finished the sentence for her.

"And I'll use my mathematical analysis to throw the perfect pass." He finished. Leo nodded.

"Adam, assume the position." My older brother sighed.

"Fine, but this is the last time." He replied, getting ready. We all got into position.

"Ready, hike!" Calla called. Adam passed her the ball, which went from her hands to Chase before she ran to the other end along with the rest of us. Chase looked like he was trying to figure out who to pass to.

"I'm open!" I yelled. We all started yelling at him to pass us the ball, and he just got more confused as we did.

"It's all a big scribble!" I heard him yell as he was tackled to the ground by two players. Then he was dog piled. It looked like it hurt.

"Game over!" Principle Perry called. "The Dingoes win!"

The now disappointed crowd started to disperse as the football players got off Chase, one by one.

"See you in the cafeteria, Alpha duds! Oh, and the pudding's on you!" Trent yelled. He looked at Jaden. "You coming to celebrate?"

Jaden shook his head, and then walked over to Chase. I was afraid he might kick him or something ,seeing as he was still down, but no. Instead, he looked at Chase, who was still lying on the ground, and offered him his hand. He helped Chase up as we ran over to them.

"Good game. You scored a couple of nice touchdowns." Jaden congratulated him. Chase grinned through his helmet.

"Thanks, you're not too bad yourself." He replied. Jaden laughed, then punched Calla playfully on the shoulder.

"And you, squirt, aren't half as bad as I thought." He told her. Calla stuck out her tongue at him.

"Hey, you're still giving me a ride, right?" she asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, you guys need one too? I can drop you at your place." He suggested. I smiled.

"That'd be great." I replied. Leo nodded.

"Yeah, you can help these guys carry my broken but home." He promptly collapsed onto the ground. I laughed and went to help carry him. Jaden looked at his sister.

"Does this happen often?" he asked. She laughed and shook her head.

"Nah, it's always something new with these guys." She replied.


	3. Rats on a Train

**Bree's POV**

"Okay guys. The next stage in your training is handling extreme climates." Mr. Davenport told us. "So we'll frost Chase, bake Bree, and submerge Adam."

Adam grinned and clapped happily. "It's not really part of the training. I just got one of those carnival dunk tanks and I can't wait to try it out." Mr. Davenport explained to Calla and Leo. Calla's eyes lit up.

"Dibs on first shot!" she exclaimed. Leo looked at her.

"No way! I want to dunk Adam first!" he complained. Calla smirked.

"Yeah, well I called first dibs! HA!" she laughed.

"But that's not fair!" Leo argued. Chase cleared his throat

"Guys!" he called them away from that little argument. They turned to him.

"What?" they asked at the same time.

"Stop." Chase replied. They both sighed.

"Fine." They both muttered. We rolled our eyes at them as Chase climbed into his capsule.

"Okay Chase, I'm setting your tube on 'Antarctic'. If it gets to be too much, just give me a sign." Mr. Davenport instructed. Chase nodded.

"Bring it!" he grinned. Mr. Davenport pressed the activation button on the consol.

"Hey, this is unfair. I want to be abused by weather." Leo complained. I rolled my eyes at him.

"If you really want to be abused, try standing over here next to Adam's morning breath." I suggested. Adam looked offended.

"I do not have morning breath." He objected. "It smells like this all day." Calla and I wrinkled our noses. Gross.

"Leo, these guys are genetically engineered to handle these kinds of climates." Mr. Davenport explained. "You're not."

"I can handle extreme cold." Leo argued. Calla stared at him.

"You get brain freeze from chewing mint gum." She reminded him. I smiled. Suddenly, Mr. Davenport's phone rang.

"Davenport." He answered. "What? Well, that's terrible!" We started to follow him as he paced around the lab.

I looked at Calla, but before I could ask her anything, she whispered "I have no clue what that's about." Mr. Davenport continued to pace the lab.

"Well that's awesome, but that's terrible! Uh, I got to do something!" Mr. Davenport hung up.

"Hey, what going on? What's so terrible?" Adam demanded.

"Well, I created the world's fastest train, but now it's speeding out of control carrying highly explosive nucloneum towards downtown Welkerville!"

"Wait, then what was awesome?" I asked, confused.

"It's going like four hundred miles an hour." Mr. Davenport grinned.

"Nice!" Calla had the same nerdy-inventor-scientist look on her face. Then they got back to being serious.

"My entire career is riding on and possibly crashing on this train." Mr. Davenport said.

"Not to mention the fact that hundreds of people will die if it crashes!" Calla exclaimed.

Mr. Davenport ignored her. "I don't understand what went wrong! My design was flawless!"

"So flawless that you forgot to include an emergency brake?" Leo asked. Mr. Davenport gave him a look.

"No. I never counted on the conductor dropping his papaya smoothie all over the controls and then jumping off the train." Mr. Davenport was furious.

"Uh, Mr. Davenport?" Calla said suddenly. We ignored her again.

"Well if I were to build a high speed train, the first thing I would have put in was a cup holder." Adam said. "Oh! And one of those bumper sticks on the back that says 'I break for cows'."

"Uh, guys?" Calla tried again, only to be ignored.

"You know, when stuff like this happens, they always blame the scientist." Mr. Davenport complained. "This is human error! Scientists don't make mistakes."

"GUYS!" Calla yelled at the top of her lungs. We all turned to face her.

"What is it?" Mr. Davenport demanded. Calla wordlessly pointed to the capsules where Chase stood half frozen and shivering violently.

"Chase! Now I have to explain the whole train story again." Mr. Davenport complained, stalking over to the consol to let Chase out. Adam led our have frozen brother over to a counter and Mr. Davenport explained the train situation as Calla ran upstairs. She came back with a large, dark blue blanket and wrapped it around Chase.

Mr. Davenport ran out of the room for a few minutes and came back carrying a large bag.

"The good news is, whenever I invent something, I always create a backup device to support it."

"As oppose to building it right the first time." Chase said.

"I think I liked you better frozen." Mr. Davenport replied, pulling a machine out from the bag. "My auxiliary decelerator will stop anything. Ocean liners, tanks, eighteen-wheelers, twelve-wheelers…"

"Does it stop unnecessarily long explanations?" Leo asked, cutting Mr. Davenport off.

"Apparently so." Mr. Davenport replied, glaring at Leo. "The only problem is I can't figure out how to get it on the train."

My siblings and I exchanged glances and smiles. "Are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Our first mission!" "I want a pet pig!" We all turned to Adam when he got it wrong. "What?" he asked dumbly.

"No, no, no, no." Mr. Davenport shook his head. "You are not prepared for this kind of mission. It is a highly volatile situation. Fingers crossed, down the line there will be plenty of other horrible disasters."

"But Mr. Davenport, you need to stop this train now." Chase reminded him. "And you need us to help you do it. Your career depends on it."

"Again I mention the hundred of possible deaths." Calla spoke up. We ignored her.

"Please Mr. Davenport?" I begged. "This is what you trained us for."

Mr. Davenport frowned. "Alright. You got to leave the nest sometime." We all grinned. "Alright, get in your capsules. I can't believe I'm saying this, but it's time to upgrade your mission suits." For a moment, he looked like a proud father, which was weird, considering that this was Mr. Davenport.

We all raced into the capsules, but Adam stopped before he entered his. "I hope you addressed the chaffing problem." Mr. Davenport looked confused as he pressed the button that gave us the brand new suits.

The new outfits were all identical and made of spandex. They were grey, red and black, the colours of Davenport Industries. Despite the fact that the fashion police would have me arrested in half a second if they saw me in this, I loved it. It was WAY better than the older ones.

"Oh! I see you put in seat warmers." Adam grinned at Mr. Davenport as Calla brought a box over to us.

"Okay, we'll be able to use these ear pieces to communicate. And I'll monitor your progress on the train's surveillance system. That way, if you guys blow yourselves up in a fiery explosion, I can watch it unfold in glorious HD." Mr. Davenport explained. "That came out wrong."

We were too excited to care. "We get our first mission!" I cheered.

"We get to save lives!" Chase grinned.

"Seriously, I want a pet pig!" Adam exclaimed.

"Maybe one day Adam." Calla promised, handing out the ear pieces. "Bree." I took my ear piece. "Chase." Chase took his. "Adam." Leo stole Adam's ear piece out of Calla's hand.

"Leo!" Mr. Davenport scolded as Leo started to put his in.

"What am I supposed to use? Two cans and a string?" Leo demanded. Mr. Davenport looked at him and Leo sighed, handing the ear piece to Adam just as his mom came walking over to us. She was dressed in a really nice outfit, so I figured she was going out.

"Guess what? Your favourite news reporter just got her big break." Tasha exclaimed happily.

"Linda Montieriez?" "Chip Spudnick?" "James Black?" "Melanie Tylers?" "Tom Constan with sports?" we all guessed. Tasha shot a glare at us.

"No, I did!" she squealed. "I'm covering a runaway train!"

"No way! What a coincidence!" Adam gasped. "Mr. Davenport-"

"Is so proud of you." Mr. Davenport stepped in, taking Tasha's hands.

"Will you watch Leo? I have a train to catch." Tasha grinned.

"Absolutely. And don't forget, be balance and fair, collect all the facts and blame the conductor. He's an idiot." Mr. Davenport led Tasha out of the lab as he spoke.

"This stinks. Everyone gets to go on an adventure but me." Leo complained.

"Leo, I'm staying here too, remember?" Calla told him, sitting down at her desk.

"Then why do you have an ear piece?" Leo asked.

"So I can hear their dying screams as the train goes sky-high." Calla replied, not looking up from the computer as she hacked the train's security system.

"Leo, just because you can't go on the train doesn't mean we can't have fun here. I can pop in the Goober the Spunky Caboose CD for you." Mr. Davenport suggested. Adam nodded, silently telling him that it would be fun.

"I'm fourteen!" Leo objected.

"Fine then, pop it in yourself." Mr. Davenport didn't seem to realize that the only people that would enjoy the CD were five year olds and Adam.

"Guys, the clock's ticking." Calla reminded us. Mr. Davenport nodded and ushered us into the hallway with all the gear. He made sure we were ready, handed Adam the bag and then flew us to the train in his high speed helicopter.

On the way there, we were all nervous. Chase and Calla were doing check to make sure the ear pieces were working, I was playing Angry Pigeons on my phone, and Adam was adding things to his list of his "Incredible Edibles." Trust me; you do not want to know what that is.

Mr. Davenport dropped us off on the roof of the train and one by one, we climbed into the speeding deathtrap. I pulled out my phone to check the time. Yep, eight o'clock. Time for my hourly update. Adam immediately noticed the nucloneum.

"Ooh!" he said in awe as he reached for it. Chase slapped his hand away.

"Adam don't touch that." He ordered. "That's nucloneum."

"That's exactly why I want to touch it." Adam replied reaching for it again. Chase stopped him.

"Come on you guys. We have to work fast." Chase ordered. I didn't look up from my phone.

"Hold on! I'm updating my status." I informed him. I read my words aloud. "Bree is …facing an uncertain future."

"Hey, Chase. You spilled something on your new suit." Adam touched a spot on Chase's chest. Chase, being the dork that he was, looked down only to be flicked in the face. Then of course Chase had to try the same trick on Adam and succeeded several times while my older brother searched for the non-existent stain.

" _Focus!"_  Mr. Davenport's voice came from our ear pieces.  _"We only have fifteen minutes before this thing hits a turn and blows up Welkerville."_

"Wow, I'm glad I don't live there." Adam commented, making me and Chase smile.

" _Chase, see if you can locate the on board braking system. Bree, inspect the tanks for leaks and Adam, take a picture of the speedometer for my webpage. Wow!"_ Mr. Davenport instructed. We all nodded and got to work.

"Hey Adam! Hand me the decelerator!" Chase called.

"Um…guys, I don't remember where I left our mission bag."

"On the roof!" A voice called from above us. I stopped what I was doing. Why was there a voice coming from the bag?

"Thanks bag!" Adam called as the bag fell into the train. We stared as Leo popped out from the bag.

"Leo!?" We all yelled. He stood up, brushing off his pants.

" _LEO?!"_ Mr. Davenport and Calla cried over the ear piece.

"Which way is the dining car?" Leo asked. "I'd like to get a bite to eat before I save the town of Welkerville!"

"Leo? What are you doing here?" I demanded as Chase went through the bag, looking for the decelerator.

"Joining the mission." Leo replied. "I want to be like you guys."

"But Leo, you're not like us. And I don't mean that in a bad way. We just have these really cool super fun features and you don't."

" _Thanks for clearing that up Adam."_  I could hear the snark in Calla's voice.

"Uh, Leo?" Chase stood up. "Where's the decelerator we need to stop this train?"

"You mean the poky metal thing that was poking me in the but?" Leo asked.

" _It's right here!"_  Mr. Davenport yelled, making us all cringe. Chase glared at Leo.

"Nice work Leo." He spoke for all of us.

" _Leo, I'm supposed to be watching you!"_  Mr. Davenport yelled.

"And you are! On glorious HD too!" Leo replied, smiling into the camera. Calla laughed in the background.

"Leo, without the decelerator, we can't stop the train." Chase said calmly. I knew that the calm demeanour wouldn't last for long-he tended to panic in these types of situations.

"Mr. Davenport, what are we going to do?" I cried hopelessly.

" _I'm coming to get Leo. I f he blows up on that train, I'm going to have to get Tasha a puppy!"_  He exclaimed.  _"I'll bring the decelerator in my high speed helicopter. Wow, how many guys can say that they chased their high speed train in their high speed helicopter? I'm awesome."_

" _Meanwhile, I'll tell you guys what to do from here."_  Calla assured us.

"Okay, so." Chase went into leader mode. "I downloaded the train's route before we left the house. Let me pull it up so we can we see how much time we have left."

Chase's mini, virtual computer popped up with the train's route on it. None of us could read it, but apparently Chase could. "OH NO!" Chase yelled, panicking completely. "Guys! There's only a two percent chance that we can save the train! And if the train goes, we go! Brace yourselves!" Chase grabbed onto a large metal tube for dear life.

" _Dude, get a grip."_  Calla ordered.  _"You're bionic. Only Leo will die. Maybe."_

"Hey! Bionic people do not explode well!" Chase yelled.

" _Alright, alright. Hey, can you guys do me a favour? Don't blow up until I come back with popcorn."_

"Calla!" I snapped in frustration. "And Chase, Calla's right. You need to relax. There's still a possibility that we can survive the crash."

" _Well, actually-"_

"Calla!" I yelled again.

" _Fine, I'll shut up."_  Calla sighed.

"I'm sorry you guys have to see me like this. I know you think of me as your ultra-competent, unwavering, fearless leader." Chase apologized.

"No we don't." "Just the opposite actually." "Not really?"  _"Why would we think that?"_

Chase seemed surprised. "Chase look, everything's going to be fine." I assured him.

"Yeah." Leo agreed. "I mean, Big D's on his way in his high-speed helicopter."

"But, what if we can't attach the decelerator?" Chase worried aloud. "What f the sudden stop causes the train to tip? What if Mr. Davenport gets caught in a traffic jam?"

" _Hey, yeah, I know I'm supposed to shut up, but a traffic jam? In a helicopter?"_

"There could be birds." Chase defended himself.

"That drive cars?" Adam questioned. "I don't think so."

"Chase! You're over thinking things." Leo told our brother. "The answer is simple. If Sally's on a train travelling at a certain speed X, and she hits the curve at a certain time Y, all we need to do multiply X by Y to find out if we have enough track left to stop."

"Okay, but what if Sally is sitting on enough nucloneum to reduce an entire city to a stain?" Chase demanded.

" _Then Sally should have taken the bus."_  Calla answered.

"Oh I know! If the movie Sparkman and the train from tomorrow jumps in front of the train and stops it with his pinky. Just do that." Leo looked at Adam.

"I don't have that ability." Adam told him.

Leo's face fell. "Well, then. You need an upgrade."

Suddenly, a horn honked from above us.

"Guys! Davenport's here! He's really here! I told you there was nothing to worry about." Chase exclaimed happily.

"No you didn't." "I don't remember that." "Just the opposite actually."  _"Liar."_

Chase rolled his eyes at us and ran over to the porthole. "Okay, I'm going to drop the decelerator now. Make sure you catch it. Treat it like it's a baby." Mr. Davenport yelled.

" _But not how my brother treats babies."_  Calla intervened.

"How does your brother…" I started.

" _You don't want to know how my brother treats babies."_

"Okay! Throw it down!" Adam yelled. The decelerator fell and bounced off the train into the tracks. We heard a small crash and miniature explosion.

"You missed!" Leo called upwards, then he looked at us. "Okay, this just went from comic book cool to real life terrifying. My new mission is to get the heck off this train."

"Okay!" Mr. Davenport agreed. "We're going to have to abort the mission. I never liked Welkerville anyways."

" _Hey! My grandmother lives in Welkerville!"_ Calla exclaimed.

"I'm going to drop down the rope ladder. Everybody up, Leo first." Mr. Davenport ignored her. Wow, we were ignoring her a lot today.

The ladder came down quickly, but only Leo made towards it. We'd all made a silent agreement to not give up. We weren't going to let all those people die, or give up on our first mission.

Leo looked at us. "Come on guys, let's go home and have some cocoa." When we didn't move, he seemed confused. "Guys, cocoa."

"We can't quit now." I said.

"If we do, it means failed our first mission." Chase agreed, walking over to me.

"Yeah, we've been training our whole lives for this. We're not giving up." Adam nodded, an unusually serious tone in his voice. Leo looked at us, surprised.

"Come on, this thing's about to crash." He didn't understand why we couldn't leave with him. "We've done everything humanly possible."

"But that's just it. We're not humans, we're super-humans. Mr. Davenport made us like that because when all else fails, we can't." Chase argued, putting his arms around us.

"Yeah, we put ourselves in danger for the sake of humanity." I agreed. Leo looked at us slowly, trying to see if we were serious. Then he smiled.

"Then if you guys aren't going, I'm not going." He decided.

"Leo! This is too dangerous for you." I objected. Leo shook his head.

"Please, my middle name is danger."

" _I thought it was Francis?"_  Just how much of that conversation did Calla hear?

"It's pronounced danger." Leo snapped.

" _Alright, alright. But if you guys are going to save Welkerville and stuff, you might want to get a move on. That train ain't slowing down."_

Leo grabbed a first aid kit, tied it to the rope ladder and pulled on it, signalling that he was ready to go. The ladder lifted up without any of us on it and the hatch closed.

"Leo, are you crazy?" Chase demanded. "What are you doing?"

"We're all in this together." Leo replied. A smile came to my face.

"We're all in this together." Calla and I sang, remembering our High School Musical Movie Marathon from the week before.

"Girls!" Chase brought us back to reality.

"I may not be super-human, but it doesn't mean I can't be a hero." Leo continued.

" _A first aid kit?"_ Mr. Davenport's voice came on the ear piece.  _"Leo, when I open this thing, you'd better be inside. What do you guys think you're doing?"_

"We're completing our mission." Chase replied as we all reached for the ear pieces.

" _Wait! Are you guys going to break them?"_  Calla seemed to know exactly what we were planning.

"Yeah." I replied.

" _Hold on a second…okay, keep them in. I disconnected Mr. Davenport so I can still help you guys."_

"Nice work Cal." Chase amended, then looked at us. "Alright, anyone got an idea?"

" _Well, I can't give you any ideas, but I can give you mission details. You have approximately three minutes to stop that train, or Welkerville becomes the new Grand Canyon."_

"Alright, let's think." Leo started to pace. "Objects in motion tend to stay in motion unless an external force blocks it."

"So what could block our path?" I asked.

"Ooh! What if we put the nucloneum tanks in front of the train?" Adam suggested.

"Then the train would blow up." I explained. Adam grinned.

"Thus stopping it." He replied.

" _Good idea Adam, but let's keep looking."_  Calla replied, not wanting to damage his high spirits.

"If only Wile E. Coyote was here. He'd have a giant rubber band that he could tie around two trees to stop this thing."

" _Leo, that's a horrible idea."_  Calla snapped.

"No, wait. He's onto something." Chase stopped her.

"He is?" I questioned.

"The Benet Bridge is 3.8 miles ahead. Our repelling ropes are unbreakable. So if Bree ties them all together…"

"I could use my super speed to run ahead and wrap them around the bridge supports. And then Adam could use his super strength to stop the train." I finished, grinning. "Let's do this thing!"

" _Wait, have you guys ever seen a Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner episode?"_ Calla asked.

"No." I replied, feeling confused.

"Yeah, Wile e. Coyote dies every episode." Leo explained.

" _Actually, several times an episode._ "

We all looked at Leo. Did they REALLY have to mention that? "Get the bag." Adam ordered. Leo complied as I tied all the ropes together. Adam pushed open the door and the bag flew right out of Leo's hands.

"Oops. Sorry!" Leo yelled as the bag hit a deer that strayed to close to the tracks. I took a deep breath, then jumped off the train. I bolted as fast as I could, quickly wrapping the ropes tightly around the supports. Then I ran back, but not without getting some souvenirs to show Calla and the boys.

"Hey guys! Check out what the train did to this penny!" I exclaimed, showing them the first souvenir. They all grinned, until I pulled out the second. "And to this squirrel!"

They all flinched away from it. I sighed. They were such babies. I handed the rope to Adam and he sat down, getting ready to do his part.

"Hey guys?" he asked timidly. "What If this doesn't work. I mean, I know I'm strong, but this goes way beyond our training sessions. What if I can't do it?"

"Adam! Strength doesn't just come from your muscles. It also comes from your mind." I exclaimed.

"Then are we sure we want him holding the rope?" Chase asked.

"This is everything we've prepared for!" I sat down next to my big brother and held onto him. "You can do this. Believe in yourself. I believe in you."

"I believe in you too." Chase sat down as well. Leo sighed and plopped himself right behind Chase.

"I just spent four hours in a bag without a washroom. I think my support goes without saying." He said.

" _Guys, I would have quit this job along time ago if I didn't believe you have what it takes to be heroes. I mean, just staying on that train despite the odds make you my heroes."_  Calla said meaningfully.

"Okay guys, here we go. Twenty seconds." Chase said. Suddenly, my phone rang. Of course, I answered it.

"Hello?" I asked. The voice on the other side of the phone was crying.

"Bree! Jaden…he just…he broke up with me!" Kaitlin sobbed. I gasped.

"Oh my god! That's terrible!" I exclaimed.

"What? What's wrong now?" Chase asked.

"Kaitlin just broke up with Jaden!" I explained.

" _YES!"_  an excited squeal echoed throughout all of our ear pieces.

"Hey, they were good together!" I yelled at Calla. Then I turned my attention back to my phone. "Oh Kaitlin, I'm so sorry."

"Hey, can I talk to Kaitlin for a moment?" Chase held out his hand. Chase was usually the sensitive one, so I figured he'd calm her down. I handed him the phone.

Instead, he threw my phone out the open door. "HEY!" I yelled.

" _Guys! Five seconds!"_  Calla stopped me from yelling at Chase.

The train lurched a few seconds later. I could help but gasp as the train went from 400 m/h to 0 m/h in a second. It felt like my arms were ripped out of their sockets.

The lights on the train flickered out for a moment, but when they came back on, the train had stopped.

" _Hey, you guys alive?"_ Calla asked nervously. I laughed with relief, pushing myself away from my brothers.

"Yeah, we're fine." I assured her as we all got to our feet still shocked that we were alive.

" _Thank god. Just so you know, Mr. Davenport wants you all back here. Like now. Oh, and nice job guys."_  She told us before cutting off the communication. We stood there for a moment and then her words sunk in. We did a nice job. We completed our mission. We saved all those people from exploding.

"We did it!" I cheered.

"Yeah, we completed our first mission!" Chase yelled, high fiving Adam.

"Ow! Rope burn." Adam rubbed his sore hands.

"Sorry, but I can't believe it. We saved Welkerville. That includes you too Leo." Leo grinned. "If you didn't waste all your time watching cartoons everyday, we might all be dead right now."

"So? What's our next mission? Runaway rocket? Sinking battle ship?" Leo demanded, adrenaline still pumping through his veins.

"How about trying to explain this entire thing to your mom?" Chase suggested. A horrified looked crossed Leo's face.

"That's a mission we'll never return from." Leo said, deadly serious. I laughed.

"Okay guys, let's go home." I sighed. "I need to call Kaitlin. Using the home phone. Why? Because someone threw mine out a moving train!"

"I have no regrets." Chase said, right before running as fast as he could out of the train.


	4. Leo's Jam

**Chase's POV**

"Hey Calla!" I called as Adam, Bree, Leo and I got to school. We'd been running a little late, so we hadn't managed to catch up with her where we usually did. Calla looked up and waved, smiling, then went back to talking with her friends. Bree headed over to meet them.

"Guys," Leo said, catching my attention. "With the dance coming up, I thought you could use some advice on how to ask a lady out."

I chuckled. Advice from Leo? This was going to be good. "Oh, great." Adam grinned. "Do you know a guy who could teach us?"

Leo stared, then sighed. "Me. You're going to watch me ask out the girl of my dreams, Danielle." Leo nodded dreamily at a tall blond girl who was texting on her phone.

"Danielle?" I repeated. "Isn't she the girl who uses you as a footstool in math class?"

"Where else is she supposed to put her feet? On the floor?" Leo seemed highly offended. There was a moment of silence, then Leo smirked. "Open your notebooks boys: class is in session."

I shook my head as Leo walked up to Danielle. There was no way she was going to say yes to him. Leo stopped at the bench she was sitting on and knelt on it with one knee. "Hello Danielle."

Danielle looked up and smiled. "Do you know how much a polar bear weighs?" Leo asked. She shook her head. "Enough to break the ice." He sat down beside her, much to Danielle's amusement. "I'm Leo Dooley."

"Didn't you send me eighty seven emails?" she asked. Leo nodded after a second's thought.

"Yeah, that was a slow day." He admitted. Danielle nodded, then hearing one of her friends call her, got up.

"Yeah, well, see you later Lenny." She ran over to her friends as we walked over to 'Lenny'.

"It's Leo by the way!" Leo called after her, waving.

"So Leo, what should I write down in my notebook?" I asked him. "I mean, other than REJECTED?"

"Oh, you can copy off me." Adam said ,showing me his notebook. "I have 'she's not going to the dance with Lenny'."

**Calla's POV**

"Hey Bree." We all greeted as the speeder sat down next to us at the breakfast table.

"Hey guys, what're you talking about?" she asked.

"About whether or not Kaitlin should wear the red dress or the blue one." Rebeccka answered, showing Bree the images on Kaitlin's phone. Bree thought it over.

"Definitely the red." She replied after a moment.

"Told you!" Jessica exclaimed, high fiving Bree. I nodded.

"Yep, that's the dress." I agreed. "Besides, red is Jay's favourite colour."

"It is?" Kaitlin asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, you should see his room. It looks like an apple!" we all laughed.

"Wait, hold up. When did they get back together?" Rebeccka demanded. I groaned.

"Last night. They were making out my couch for the good part of the night." I replied. A look of realization crossed Bree's face.

"Is that why we had that emergency sleep over." Bree gasped.

"Yeah, I hope you don't mind." I said. Bree shrugged.

"Only if you let me come over when my brothers get girlfriends." I nodded, then grinned.

"Is that even possible?" I asked. She shrugged and we all laughed.

"Hey, do you guys have dates?" Bree asked, getting back to the dance. Jessica and I shook our heads.

"Nope, we're flying solo." Jessica replied. Bree frowned.

"Why?" she asked.

"Broke up with my boyfriend a couple of weeks ago, just before you got here." I told her. "It was nasty and I'd rather just be single right now."

"Oh, poor baby." Rebeccka side hugged me.

"As for me, no one's asked me yet. But Becky's going with a guy named Marco and Kaitlin's got Jay." Jessica told her. Bree looked at me.

"You've seemed to have gotten over the whole no-dating-my-brother thing." She noticed. I shrugged.

"Nah, it's not too important. But I made them both promise that I'm going to be neutral if they ever break up." I replied. "Anyway, has anyone asked you yet?"

"Well, no…" Bree hesitated and we looked at her like she was prey for some very hungry lions.

"What's his name?" Jessica asked. Bree frowned, confused.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"The boy." Rebeccka said. "The one you're crushing on."

"Oh, him…Ethan." She admitted. We all squealed.

"Oh man dude! He's like super cute and really sweet!" Kaitlin moaned.

"You have a boyfriend!" I reminded her. "Let Bree have Kaven."

"Guys, he needs to ask her out. Like, now!" Rebeccka decided. I nodded, an idea forming.

"JADEN!" I screamed. People stared at me as he came running from another hallway.

"What?" he demanded. I smiled sweetly.

"Find out who Ethan's taking to the dance." I ordered. Jaden frowned.

"Wh-" "Just do it!" I snapped. He nodded and walked off.

"Girls…" he muttered. I looked at Bree.

"We'll know if he's single and ready to mingle by the end of the day." I announced. Suddenly, Rebeccka's phone buzzed.

"Oh man! Drama practice before class!" she got up, dragging Jessica with her. "We've got to go! See you later!"

"Bye!" we called as she ran off. Kaitlin got up too, seeing Ms. Denali walk by.

"I need to ditch you guys too. I need to talk to her about the art project. I missed yesterday because I was sick, remember?" she got up and left, so we decided to go find Adam, Chase, and Leo. They were talking over by the bench and we overheard enough to know who they were talking about.

"Hey!" I greeted as we walked over. Bree groaned.

"Are you guys talking about that stupid dance too?" Bree asked, impatient with Jaden already. It'd only been three minutes. "Why is everyone making such a big deal about it?"

Chase smiled knowingly. "Nobody's asked you yet have they?"

"NO!" Bree exclaimed. "I really want to go with that guy."

She nodded at Ethan who was talking with Jay. "Patience Bree, we'll have our answers soon."

"Soon isn't now!" she argued. "And I want them now." She turned back to her brothers. "His name's Ethan. We sit next to each other in chemistry. Coincidence, I think not. Chemistry!"

"Calla says to wait, but I can't. What of he asks another girl?" she momentarily panicked. "What should I do?"

"I've got this." Chase assured her, stepping beside her. "I'll just use my super hearing to find out what he's talking about."

He brushed some hair back behind his ear, focusing on Ethan and Jaden. "He's talking about a girl he thinks is cute." Chase said a second later, in deep concentration. Then "Eww! He's talking about you!"

Bree grinned excitedly. "Told you that you'd get your answers." I muttered.

"He's coming right over here to ask you to the dance." Chase finished. Bree froze.

"What?" she squeaked. "Now? Why? Really?"

"Hey Bree, how's it going?" Ethan did exactly as Chase said he would. Bree didn't answer, so I kicked her a little in the shin.

"Bree, say something." I whispered.

"HEY ETHAN!" Bree almost yelled. Then she started babbling about who knows what. We all looked at her. Then she finally said something coherent

"What is that over there?" she asked, pointing away. We all fell for it and when we turned back, she was gone. The floor was covered in shoe marks.

"Where'd she go?" Ethan asked. I bit my lip, but Adam covered for us.

"More importantly, what is that over there?" We bolted the second he turned around. I still couldn't believe he fell for that.

**Chase's POV**

"Hey, guys!" I called, rushing into the lab. Adam and Leo looked up from where they'd been playing with action figures. I've figured it out."

"Yeah, I have too. Never eat the outside of a pineapple." He told me, shuddering slightly. "That'll come back to haunt you."

"No, I figured out how to make Danielle like Leo." I replied. Leo looked at me, surprised. "I recorded her with my bionic hearing. Let me play it back for you."

We made our way over to the USB drive on Mr. Davenport's computer. I stuck my finger in, playing the recording.

" _In the movie, the hero punches the bad guy and saves the baby from the alligator's mouth. I would SO go out with a guy like that."_  Danielle said. Adam grinned.

"Perfect!" he clapped. "You get the alligator and I'll go round up that baby."

I smirked, thinking it was a joke, but he started walking away. "Adam! No. She wants a hero." I explained. "We just have to make Leo look heroic."

"Well, that's a dead end." Leo decided. "What else you got?"

"If only there was a way you could borrow my bionic strength." Adam thought aloud. Leo smirked.

"I can't do that, it's all you've got." But Leo was wrong. Adam had rare moments of intelligence. Like when he made that comment about borrowing the super strength. In fact, Adam had just given me an idea.

"Wait a moment, Adam's on to something." I told Leo. "Which is quiet an accomplishment for someone who doesn't know how to eat a pineapple."

"Hey! I got it down, didn't I?" Adam retorted. I shook my head at him.

**Calla's POV**

Okay, so my plans to have an ordinary day? Yeah, those went down the drain as soon as I walked into the school. Why? Adam and Leo had a plan.

"Oh. My. God." Jessica gasped. I'd stopped for a moment outside to walk with my brother about his football friends. They'd made a mess of the kitchen the night before during an after-game celebration, and I'd been the one to clean it up. "Adam!"

I ran inside and gasped. Adam was lying on the ground, an entire row of lockers on top of him. Leo stood over him and Chase was leaning against the doorframe. "Jaden! Do something! Help him!" I yelled at my brother.

Jaden ran over to the lockers, along with Kyle, one of the football players, but Adam and Leo shooed them off. Jessica and Rebeccka looked at me. "Do you want to cover this, or shall I?" Rebeccka asked. I sighed.

"I'll do it." I told them, waving them off. They headed off into the cafeteria, waving hello at Leo, Chase and Adam. I walked over to them.

"Should I even ask?" I questioned. Leo thought about it.

"Are you going to call us idiots no matter what we say?" he countered. I smirked, then nodded.

"Probably." I admitted.

"Then you shouldn't ask." Adam told me. I shrugged.

"Okay. Whatever." Really, what else could I say?

"Oh, they're coming!" Chase announced. I frowned. Who were they talking about? "Commence phase one of operation Lady for Leo."

"Lady for Leo?" I repeated. Chase nodded, an excited grin on his face. "Oh god help us." I said as Danielle walked over to see what was going on.

"Oh no. This man is trapped. He looks like he needs a hero to save him. I will take charge and heroically do just that." Leo was even worse an actor than I was. I pressed my head against my locker, hoping that no one knew I was friends with them.

"Oh no, we're running out of time. Save the baby before the alligator-" Leo kicked the lockers to stop Adam. They must have had multiple ideas for this.

"I will lift these lockers." Leo announced. I snorted.

"Yeah, and pigs will fly." I muttered to Chase, then stared at Leo as he indeed lifted them. Of course, Adam was pushing them up with his hand, but to anyone other than me and Chase, it looked like Leo was doing all the work.

"So heavy!" Leo exclaimed. Chase grinned.

"So, have you seen any flying pigs yet, because I think one just left through the window." He joked. I rolled my eyes and watched as Danielle ran over to the boys.

"Oh my gosh, how are you not hurt? You must be so strong." she asked, passing Leo by like he was invisible.

"What? He's not the strong one, I'm the strong one! Hero standing right here!" Leo argued. Danielle ignored him.

"Maybe I should walk you to the nurse's office?" Danielle suggested.

"What about Leo?" Adam asked, trying to bring attention back to his brother.

"He's not hurt." Danielle replied, smiling prettily at Adam.

"Look at me! I'm an open wound!" Leo exclaimed, begging for the girl's attention.

"No, really. I'm fine." Adam assured her. Danielle nodded happily.

"Good, because the dance is Saturday and I like dancing. Maybe we could hang out?" she asked. Adam nodded.

"Yeah, sure." He agreed. Danielle waved goodbye and walked off, back to her group of friends.

"Great plan Chase." Leo glared at him.

"What are you talking about? That didn't go at all like we thought it would." Adam didn't seem too disappointed about that. I laughed.

"Congrats Adam. First date. That's big." I said to the older boy. He grinned, but put a finger over his lips, silencing me. I guess he didn't want Leo mad at him.

"Now all we have to do is get a girl to go out with Chase." I turned to face the nerd.

"Yeah, I don't think that's possible." Leo told me, walking off. I shrugged.

"Worth a shot. Oh, there's Bree and the others. Gotta go!" I ran over to my friends.

**Chase's POV**

"You stole my woman!" Leo exclaimed, glaring at Adam as they walked into the lab. Calla was going dress shopping with Bree and their friends, so I decided to cover for her with her lab work. "Where I come from, we call that a love crime!" Leo yelled.

"It's not my fault I look brave under lockers." Adam replied. "And besides, I was trying to help you!"

"How? By saying you'd go to the dance with her?" Leo questioned, furious.

"I'm keeping my options open." Adam explained. "It's the first time a girl's ever been interested in me and I kind of like it."

"Ooh, I kind of like it." Leo mocked, before tackling Adam. Adam of course, being taller and stronger than Leo, stood still while our brother tried to kill him. I sighed, deciding that enough was enough.

"Hey!" I ran over, pulling Leo off of Adam before he hurt himself. "Stop it! This is getting ay out of hand! It's like watching a poodle fight a horse. Is Danielle really worth all of this?"

"YES!" They replied harshly. I looked at Adam, going into what Calla calls "responsible mode".

"Adam, you can not go to the dance with Danielle. It wouldn't be fair to Leo." I told him.

"Hey, all is fair in love and fake locker accidents." Adam objected. I narrowed my eyes at him and he sighed in defeat. "Fine, he can have her."

"It's too late. The damage is done." Leo complained. "I'll never love again."

"Let me talk to Danielle. I'll convince her that you're a better option than Adam." I offered. Leo's face lit up.

"Really?" he asked, excited. I nodded.

"Sure." Adam smiled coldly at Leo.

"Yeah, go to the dance with her. But everybody's going to think you're dating your babysitter." He said. Leo looked at him, then pounced, ready for another fight.

**The next day (still Chase's POV)**

"Hey, Danielle?" I walked over to the blonde's table. Danielle and her friend looked up.

"Oh hi, um, Carl?" Danielle guessed.

"Chase, actually. Can I, uh talk to you? It's about my brothers."

"Your brothers?" Danielle repeated. I nodded, sitting down. Her friend walked away, clearly not interested.

"Yeah, Adam and Leo." I replied. Danielle brightened up.

"Oh, I know Adam. He's taking me to the dance this weekend." She smiled. "He's the tall and good looking guy that lifted that wall of lockers."

"Well, actually, Leo was the one that lifted them." I explained.

"Who's he again?" Danielle asked.

"The short, more interesting looking guy." I told her.

"Oh yeah, my sturdy little footstool." Danielle grinned. Man, she had a pretty smile.

"Bingo." I grinned. "I know you like Adam, but that's creating a problem with his friendship with Leo. So, I was kind of hoping that maybe you would go the dance with Leo instead?"

"Aww, that's so sweet! You're worried about your brother." Danielle cooed affectionately. "You know what? I know how to fix this whole thing."

"See? I knew that if I just talked to you, everything would work out." I grinned, pleased with myself.

"Sure did. I'm going to go to the dance with you." She said.

"That's great…wait, did you say me?" I stopped dead. I must have misheard her.

"Yep. See you there Chase." Danielle got up and walked away, leaving me at the table. Did I just…get a date?

"So? Did it work?" Leo demanded sitting down next to me.

"Here's the deal." I said slowly. "Danielle's not going to dance with either of you."

"What?" Adam gasped. "Then who's she going with?"

"ME!" I grinned.

**Calla's POV**

"CALLA!" Jaden called. I was in my room, trying to decide on what shoes to wear to Friday's dance. It was only a day away, and I was stuck between two pairs. Not to mention, all the girls were coming over later for group dress approvals. It was sort of a tradition.

"Yeah Jay?" I stepped out of my room.

"One of your friends are here. Um, Bree. You know, the pretty brunette?" he replied. Bree? What was she doing here? The party wasn't for at least another hour.

"Wait, Jay?" I walked down into the hall.

"Yeah?"

"Did you just call her pretty?" I asked, a mischievous grin on my face. He rolled his eyes.

"No of course not. You're imagining it little sister." He lied. "Anyway, I'm out of here. Got practice at six."

"See ya!" I waved good bye and headed into the living room, where Bree was twiddling her thumbs at a super human speed. "OKAY, someone's got something on her mind and it ain't me, so spill. Is it Ethan?"

"Yeah, every time I see him, I get panicky and act like a total…" she trailed off, looking for a word.

"Dork monster?" I suggested cheerfully.

"Total dork monster." She agreed.

"Bree," I laughed lightly. "You're not the only girl to run away from a cute guy. I was so nervous around my first crush, I couldn't even look at him for five months. You're not the only one who gets nervous."

"I flew across the room and jumped on top of the lockers." She said matter-of-factly. I opened my mouth, and then closed it.

"Okay, never did that before." I admitted.

"Whenever he's around I just get flustered and glitchy and I just want to eat my face so I don't say something stupid."

I smiled. This was totally just like having a little sister. Except for the fact that Bree was about four months older than me. "Try breathing next time. I'm serious. Deep breaths. Stay in the moment and don't think about how much you like him. That's what I do. Or, you could try wearing high heels. That way, if you run away, you'll wipe out like a down hill skier. It'll be hilarious, and it'll give him an excuse to help you up."

"Okay, yeah. Breath. Stay in the moment. Don't think. Wipe out. Got it." Bree nodded, smiling. "Thanks Cal."

"No prob." I shrugged. "Now, seeing as you just randomly barged in here-"

"Sorry about that."

"You can help me pick out my shoes." I grabbed her hand and started towing her towards my bedroom.

"So, you still don't have a date?" Bree asked, sitting down on my bed as I rummaged through my shoe boxes.

"Nope. I can't leave Jessica all by her lonesome, can I?" Bree laughed.

"No. I guess you can't. But don't you want to dance with a guy. There's got to be at least one cute guy at the school for you."

I smiled, sitting down with the two boxes in my hands. "Oh, there are plenty of cute guys. And being the lead kicker's baby sister helps too, but I'm just not interested in any of them. I want someone who's funny and kind, but not too dumb. And I definitely do not want a jock."

"Why not?" Bree asked.

"Because, Jaden's part of the five percent of jocks who not only have a mind of their own, but don't pick on nerds. The rest of them are like Trent and I would rather kiss a slug than go on a date with Trent." Both of us shuddered.

"Yeah, that'd be terrible." Bree agreed.

**Chase's POV**

"I can't believe you stole Danielle from us!" Adam complained. I rolled my eyes and at down on the couch, my laptop in my hands.

"I didn't steal her. She just kind of fell in my lap, like a beautiful, flower angel from heaven…" I trailed off, images of Danielle dancing around in my head.

"We get it." Leo snapped. I sighed.

"Look, I didn't mean for this to happen." I stated.

"Oh, so you're not taking her to the dance." Adam sounded relieved. I stared at him like he was crazy.

"Of course I'm taking her to the dance. She's like a cotton white lamb that frolics-"

"We get it!" they both yelled.

"I may not know how to dance, but a girl is interested in me for the first time ever." I continued. "Even Calla didn't think that was possible. How can I say no?"

"Oh you say no!" Adam said. "N-O-O. No."

"Uh, Adam…never mind." I decided now wasn't the time to correct him on his grammar.

"What ever happened to 'It's not fair, Leo had her first'?" Adam questioned. "You say not to do something and then you do the total opposite. You're a total hypnotist!"

Again, going to ignore the grammar. "You know what Adam? I think we should give Chase a break." Leo's attitude changed dramatically. "I mean it is his first go around on the carousel of love."

I looked at Leo hopefully. Was he really going to let me have Danielle? "What?" Adam demanded. "Are you kidding me? Oh he's on a carousel alright and he's riding a big plastic horse named Betrayal!"

"Let's face it Adam. The better man won." Leo was definitely on my side. Maybe he had less of a problem with me dating Danielle than Adam.

"Oh no. He's not the better man, I am. And I'm going to get her back at the dance. It is on. O-N-N ON!" Adam stormed out of the room, furious.

"Thanks Leo." I smiled at my step-brother. "You sure you're not mad?"

"If I can't have Danielle, you should." He replied. Then "Did you say you don't know how to dance?"

"Yeah, but I'm just going to download a dance app off the internet or something." I held up my laptop. Leo nodded thoughtfully.

"Oh, okay. But is the refrigerator dance on the internet yet? I mean it's so new." He said to no one in particular. I was all ears though.

"Refrigerator dance?" I repeated. "What's that?"

"You don't know about the refrigerator dance?" Leo gasped. I shook my head. "Everybody's doing it, but I'm sure you'll find something."

"No! Show it to me! Please." I demanded. Leo smiled.

"Alright." Leo agreed. I got up and walked over to him. "I'll call out an action, and you mime it."

I nodded eagerly. Leo started chanting the dance steps. "Open the fridge." He made a swinging move. I copied it. "No! More feeling than that."

"Oh, okay." We tried again and apparently I did it right.

"And you said you didn't know how to dance." Leo smirked as he watched me do the moves. I grinned; Danielle was definitely going to like my dance moves.

**Calla's POV**

"Alright girls. Time for…whoa. We look awesome." I stared at every one of my best friends as I skipped into the school. Their dresses were amazing!

Kaitlin was wearing a bright red, strapless dress that went down to her knees. The golden belt she'd chosen with it really showed it off and went well with the gold outline at the bottom of the dress.

Jessica had a dark green dress, the same length, but this one had two inch straps at the top and a matching dark green ribbon in place of the belt. She was carrying a black handbag along with it.

Rebeccka was wearing a strapless dress that truly showed off her crazy personality. The bottom half was pure black while the top half was a zebra print. Separating the two halves was a bright pink ribbon and bow.

I'd already seen Bree's dress when we went dress shopping together, but it was still so pretty. The bottom half was dark blue while the top half was a light blue with a special pattern sewn in. It was the only one of our dresses with sleeves, but I think it totally worked for her.

As for me, for the first time in my memory, I was wearing pink. I usually don't like pink, so it was definitely a change for me. But it was one of the prettiest dresses at the store that day, so I just had to but it. It was a short, strapless dress with a white floral pattern on top of it. In the middle was a black ribbon to separate the top and the bottom.

"I know right? We look hot-mazing." Rebeccka grinned.

"That's not a word." Bree told her.

"I don't care!" Rebeccka snapped.

"Ladies, ladies. No fighting tonight." I reminded them. They sighed. Bree started to walk over to me, then stumbled. I grabbed her arm to support her and noticed she was wearing high heels.

Okay, if you're going to be wearing those shoes, I'd suggest wearing a helmet." Jessica nodded at the shoes. Bree rolled her eyes at Jessica and looked like she was going to say something, but then Kaitlin squealed.

"Hey Jaden!" she cried, throwing herself at my brother. I averted my eyes when they kissed.

"Oh come on, it's not like I've never kissed Kaitlin before." My brother teased.

"Okay, you two can leave now. I don't want to vomit all over this pretty dress just because you two are sucking face." I pointed to the dance. Jaden laughed.

"Fine, but other than getting Kaitlin, I just wanted to say, you all look very pretty." I smiled. Jaden could be nice at times. "Except you Cal, you look like a troll." This was one of those times.

"Leave!" I pushed him away. Rebeccka laughed.

"You two need to stop fight…fighting. And I have to go because Marco just got here. See ya!" Rebeccka ran off to go see her new boy toy, leaving me, Jessica and Bree alone in the hall.

"Okay ladies. Time for our grand entrance. Formations!" I joked as we walked in. I immediately spotted Adam and Chase, but Leo was no where to be seen. I walked over to them. "Wow, not too shabby boys. You know how to clean yourselves up." I complimented.

"You don't look to bad yourself." Chase replied.

"So where's Danielle, Adam?" I asked. Chase smirked.

"Oh, she's not his date anymore. She's mine. And she's in the washroom." He informed me.

"What?" I demanded. "When did that happen? Why did that happen?"

"She thought I was sweet." Chase smiled happily.

"Oh, so that's a good reason to steal your brother's date. That's SO nice of you." I retorted. I don't know why I was so upset at Chase. It's not like Adam didn't do the same thing. I guess I expected more from him because he was the responsible and smart one. And not to mention, he's the least likely to stab someone, let alone Adam or Leo, in the back like that.

"Ooh! Bree! There's Ethan!" Jessica exclaimed. Bree frozen, nervousness written all over her face. I sighed.

"If this goes south, I'm really sorry about this." I pushed my best friend over to her crush. She stumbled a bit, but managed to keep her footing. With a glare sent at me over her shoulder, she started to chat with Ethan.

"Ten bucks says she runs away. Again." Chase whispered to me. I laughed.

"Twenty says you're wrong." Bree started to run a bit, but caught herself before she could. And then she started to dance horribly. "Dance lessons. Get the girl dance lessons." I muttered to myself as Ethan took Bree's hand and led her onto the dance floor.

"Aww…" Jessica cooed. I was about to agree when a miniature tornado of Bree and Ethan went by us. "What was that?" My best friend exclaimed.

"What? What was what?" I asked dumbly.

"The twister!" Jessica pointed at where it had been.

"What twister? Jessica, maybe you're just seeing things." Chase covered for his sister. "Oh, there's Danielle, I got to go."

Chase walked over to the green clad blonde. "Nice dress." Jessica muttered. "She totally stole my idea."

"Just because you're wearing the same color doesn't mean she stole your idea." I argued.

"Yes, she did. She totally did!" Jessica objected. I was about to say something else, but then I saw something that looked like a dude having a seizure while drunk. "What the hell is Chase doing?" I wondered aloud.

I wasn't the only one staring. In fact, everyone at the dance seemed to wondering the same thing. I think Chase was trying to dance and it wasn't working out well for him.

"What are you doing?" Danielle demanded after he started doing what looked like lassoing an invisible cow.

"I'm swinging and invisible pickle!" he exclaimed. Okay, so I was off by that much. Jessica and I exchanged looks and then burst out laughing. As did most of the dance as Danielle stormed off, obviously disgusted. Chase stopped, realizing that something was wrong.

"What?" he asked, turning to me. "What is everyone staring at?"

"You!" I laughed. "That was the most messed up thing ever! That probably made the year book."

Chase looked at me, offended, but I couldn't hold back the giggles. I only stopped when Adam threw Danielle though the ceiling.

"Okay, someone's been working out." Jessica whispered as he caught Danielle in his arms easily. I was waiting for the government to come flying in to take them away, because they were HORRIBLE at keeping their bionics hidden.

"Put me down!" Danielle screeched. Adam complied, a silly grin on his face. He thought he'd impressed her. Clearly that was not the case.

"I bet Chase can't toss you around like a rag doll." He commented.

"Get away from me!" Danielle ran off screaming. Chase looked at me again.

"Was my dancing really that bad?" he asked, upset. I put a hand on his shoulder.

"You made bad dancers feel good about themselves." I told him seriously as the music stopped. "Huh?"

The lights dimmed until there was a spot light, shining at the gym doors. Four women wearing matching silver dresses walked in, Leo right behind him. "Oh no. Not him too. Is this all about that one girl?" Jessica complained.

"Yep. I'm going to teach them the word dignity later. Want to help me?" I asked. She nodded as Leo started dancing. I have to admit, he was good. And by good, I mean I was planning on entering his name in So You Think You Can Dance?

The entire gym bust into applause when Leo was done. The only one not clapping was Chase. He looked furious. "Okay everybody, give it up for my Aunt Janet and her book club!" Leo nodded at his back up dancers.

"That was awesome!" Danielle said, walking over to Leo.

"It was just a little something for the kids." Leo brushed it off like it was nothing, but I could almost hear his mind screaming "YES! SHE LIKES IT! YES!"

"Shall we?" Danielle held out her hand.

"Consider it shalled." Leo said, leading her onto the dance floor.

"Alright, I have to admit. Tiny McLittlestein knows how to impress a girl." Jessica commented. I stared at her in awe.

"Finally!" I exclaimed.

"What?" she asked.

"Okay. You remember how I have nicknames for like everyone? Well, that can be Leo's. Tiny McLittlestein." I explained. Jessica laughed.

"Okay then. Remind me to tell Adam, Bree and Chase." She smiled.

"Speaking of Bree, where is she?" I asked. Jessica pointed to a spot in the corner where Bree and Ethan were dancing together.

"Aww!" we cooed. Dances always brought out our inner girl.

**Twenty minutes later**

"Hey, I need to leave soon. In about ten minutes." Jessica told me. I nodded.

"Sure. Hey, where're everyone?" I wondered, looking around.

"Well, Ethan and Bree are flirting by the punch table. Leo's trying to convince Danielle to dance with him after he ditched her for ten minutes."

"Why'd he ditch her?" I asked.

"He wanted to apologize to Adam and Chase." Jessica replied. "I heard him talking to them. As for said nerds, they're in the corner."

Usually, I'd object to calling them nerd, but that's exactly what they looked like. "Wow, they look lonely." I admitted. "We should fix that."

"How? You know they'll think we pity them if we ask them to dance."

"Yeah, good point. Follow me." I let my shoulders droop as I sulked over to the boys, trying to look as miserable as possible.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Chase looked at our upset faces.

"Well, there were these boys…and they were making fun of us." I whimpered.

"Why?" Adam questioned, concerned. "Do you want me to hurt them?"

"No, but they kept calling us losers because nobody would dance with us…" Jessica caught on quickly. The brothers exchanged glances, then stood up. Chase grabbed my hand and pulled me to the dance floor.

"Let's dance." He told me. I smiled.

"Okay, thanks." He stopped short.

"Um, how do you slow dance again?" he asked nervously. I laughed and placed his hands around my waist.

"Just take small steps." I told him. Jessica and Adam were doing the same.

"So, quick question…" Chase trailed off.

"Shoot." He gave me a look.

"No one was making fun of you, were they?" he asked. Damn. Never trick the smart ones.

"Would you rather I had said that you looked like losers and we were trying to cheer you up?" I asked.

"Nope. I think I prefer this." He replied. "By the way, thanks."

"No problem Chase. And I'm sorry for laughing earlier. It was mean to tease you like that."

"You always tease us." He objected.

"Yeah, but it was uncalled for at the time. I'm sorry."

"It's fine." We were quiet then, swaying to the soft beat. It was nice. Peaceful. Honestly, I'd considered skipping the dance al together. I was glad I didn't.


	5. The Academic Olympics

**Chase's POV**

I was trying to fall asleep using my back pack as a pillow when Calla bugged me. I'd spent the entire night coughing with a really sore throat and couldn't fall asleep, so I was exhausted to say the least. It was also a Monday, a rainy one at that, so I wasn't in the best of moods.

Bree was trying to keep me company by telling me all about some boy she liked, while Adam and Leo were trying to sneak the answers for their next test out of their teacher's suitcase.

"Good morning!" Calla said cheerfully, skipping over to us. She sat down right next to Bree. "Wow, you look tired."

"Yeah, I know. You need something?" I asked. I wasn't trying to be rude, but I seriously wasn't feeling well.

"Well, I was going to ask you for a favour…" I groaned, turning my head so I couldn't see her.

"Too tired. No favours." I mumbled into my backpack.

"It's not until tomorrow at the earliest and you might actually enjoy it." She replied. I raised my head.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Okay, have either of you two ever heard of the Academic Olympics?" Both Bree and I shook our heads. "Okay, so it's like a battle of the brains and it's board wide. Teams of two from every school do mini quiz shows against each other. The winning team gets five grand for their school, and twenty-five hundred dollars each for personal use."

"That sounds cool." I said, sitting up. Calla nodded, an excited smile on her face.

"Yeah, but we've never won. Welkerville always beats us in the finals and this year I want to crush them." She said that with a little bit of venom in her voice. "Anyway, will you be my partner for it? PLEASE?"

"I don't know…" I trailed off as she looked at me with big, pleading eyes. I sighed, unable to refuse her. "Fine. I'll do it."

"Great!" Calla jumped up. "The first match is tomorrow right after school. I took the week off from work and already signed you up. We're against Riverdale High first."

"Wait, you already signed me up?" I asked. Calla nodded. "How'd you know I was going to say yes?"

"Because if you did say no, I wouldn't talk to you for a week, and you'd miss me." She replied.

"And I would miss you why?" I asked. Calla frowned in confusion.

"Because I'm awesome." She said it like it should have been obvious.

"Oh, right. I almost forgot." I joked. Calla rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah, have you seen Leo? He borrowed my IPod to play Angry Pigeons yesterday and he hasn't given back." She said. I was about to reply when we all heard a teacher yell down the hallway.

"LEO DOOLEY AND ADAM DAVENPORT! JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING GOING THROUGH MY THINGS?!" I mentally face palmed. Calla nodded thoughtfully.

"Detention room it is. See you guys later!" she ran off to get her IPod. Bree looked at me, a mischievous smile on her face.

"Do you have to crush on the crazy girls?" she asked. I looked at her.

"Calla isn't crazy." I defended her. Bree kept smiling until what she said hit me. "Hold on! I do NOT have a crush on her."

Bree stayed quiet, but her eyebrows raised in disbelief. I glared at her. "I don't." I repeated.

"Sure you don't Chase. I believe you." She lied. "But if you ever ask her out, get on Jaden's good side. You know how overly protective he is of her." With that last thought, Bree stood up and started to walk away.

"I'm not going to…oh forget it." I really didn't feel like yelling today.

**Calla's POV**

"It's about time." I muttered as the lab rats plus Leo walked into the gym. I ran over to them.

"We go on in about three minutes." I told Chase, getting more pumped by the second. It was my third year doing this and I always loved any chance to show off my intelligence.

"Cool, so how does this work?" Chase asked.

"Alright, we'll be asked a total of fifteen questions. Seven each and a tie breaker if it's a tie." I explained. "It could be a question about anything. From the alphabet to rocket science. Anything."

"Got it. Let's go." Chase's voice sounded worse than this mornings. He was probably coming down with a cold. The rain didn't help.

"Are you guys here to wish us luck?" I asked the others. They all nodded.

"Hey, so I've got a question. You guys just need to get seven out of fifteen right?" Adam asked.

"No, we're only asked seven questions unless it's a tie. Then we're asked an eighth." I explained. Adam still looked confused.

"Wait, so do you need fifteen out of eight right, or fifteen out of seven right?" he asked. I stared at him, but before I could give a sarcastic response (which is my primary response to a stupid question) we were called on stage.

"Contestants, please make your way to the podiums." The announcer called. I grabbed Chase's arm and pulled him up onto the stage. It was set up with three podiums. One on each side of the stage and one in the center for the announcer. Behind that was a TV screen that would light up green if we were right and red if we were wrong.

"You're really excited about this, aren't you?" Chase asked, trying to calm me down.

"Yeah, well…I sort of need the money." I blushed a little.

"Why? Mr. Davenport pays you, right?" Chase asked.

"It's a long story, but Jaden was trying to teach me how to drive, and I hit a stop sign, and now I have to pay for damages to the car and the sign before I can try for my license. And my monthly pay check from Mr. Davenport won't cover it."

"Wait, you hit…" Chase was cut off by the announcer.

"Alright, welcome to the annual Academic Olympics. I'm your host, Ted Berkley. Representing the home team is Mission Creek's team, Calla Parker and Chase Davenport!" I waved shyly at the crowd. "And representing the away team is Riverdale are Daniel Hale and Molly Simmons."

The other opponents had been partners since about six years ago, back when they were in grade six. It was their last year and I could tell they were desperate to win.

"Alright, we'll start with Mission Creek as they are the home team. Calla, Chase, are you ready?" Ted looked at us. I nodded eagerly.

"Bring it." Chase challenged. Ted smiled.

"Alright, first question. Where does the name Mackenzie origin from?" he asked. I hit the buzzer immediately.

"It's of Gaelic origin." I replied. The TV screen lit up a pale green and I grinned.

"Point Mission Creek." Ted nodded at me, then turned to the other team.

"How'd you know that?" Chase asked.

"Me and my friends used to check up random names to see what they mean for fun. The app we used also happened to tell us the origin and I just happened to remember Mackenzie." I whispered to him. The other team got their question right and it was back to us.

"Okay, question number two. Who created the earliest laser?" I didn't know the answer, but Chase did.

"It was Archimedes." He replied calmly. The screen lit up again. I grinned. There was no way we were going to lose this. Ted asked the other team a question. They got it right.

"What is the most common four letter word used in crossword puzzles? Is it A) chef B) area or C) note?"

"It's area!" Chase replied before going into a coughing fit. The announcer didn't notice the coughing as the screen lit up green.

"You okay?" I asked. Chase nodded then reached for my water bottle.

"May I?" he asked.

"Keep it." He smiled gratefully and downed what was left of the water. By that point Ted had turned back to us. The score was 3-3.

"What is the number seven in Japanese?" he asked. I smiled.

"Ha-chee." I replied. Ted nodded as the screen went green. The other team got their question wrong and I grinned. All we needed was three more to win!

We got the next three pretty easily and we got pas the first round. Just two more to go. "Way to go guys." Leo congratulated us. I smiled.

"Okay, hold up." Chase stopped me. "You really hit a stop sign?"

"Huh?" the others were confused, so I was forced to repeat the whole hit a stop sign story to them.

"Okay, but how did you miss the stop sign? It's big and red and impossible to miss." Adam told me. I glared at him.

"One, people miss stop signs all the time." I informed him.

"Yeah, but not everyone hits them." Bree smirked.

"Well, there was this cat. And I like cats, so I didn't want to hit it…"

"So you hit the stop sign?" Chase looked at me. I nodded, smiling.

"Exactly!" I replied. At least HE understood. It's not like I hurt anyone either.

**Chase's POV**

"Hey wake up Chase! It's time for school!" a loud banging on my capsule woke me up. I opened my eyes to see Adam's face peering into my capsule. I pushed open the capsule door.

"You know it's creepy…" I stopped short when my voice came out in a hoarse whisper. "What the hell?"

"Why are you whispering?" My brother asked. I glared at him.

"Not trying to." My voice wouldn't get louder. Bree came walking in at that moment, already ready to go to school.

"You guys coming?" she asked impatiently. I ignored her and grabbed a water bottle from the cooler Calla had brought down. She'd been complaining about the lack of food and drinks, so she'd taken matters into her own hands. Most of it was filled with pop and the occasional box of ice cream. But there were some waters in there too. I chugged it all in one gulp.

"Chase can't talk." Adam told her.

"What?" Bree questioned. I glared at Adam.

"I can talk just…oh damn it!" my voice was still out of it. Bree laughed.

"Looks like someone lost their voice." She teased. I glared at her. "Oh come on, don't look like that. It's not the big a deal."

"Tell that to Calla." I muttered. Bree looked at me.

"Oh crap. The contest. Um, I'll call her and tell her that you can't make it."

"Then who's going to compete for me?" I asked.

**Calla's POV**

"WHAT?!" I demanded. "You've got to be kidding me! I am not going on stage with Adam!"

"Why not?" Adam asked. I smiled at Adam.

"What's the square root of a hundred?" I asked.

"A rectangle." He replied. I looked at Chase and Bree.

"Need I explain?" I asked. Chase sighed.

"Sorry Cal." He DID sound horrible. And I guess I couldn't blame him for getting sick, but did he really have to stick me with Adam?

"You hate me. You must really hate." I sighed. "Look, why can't Bree come on stage with me? Or Leo?"

"Because Leo took the blame for Adam and his prank and he's in detention, and the teams have to be a guy and a girl each. Two girls aren't allowed."

"I'll get Jay to…no, that could be worse." I muttered, trying to come up with a better idea. I gave up, glaring at Adam. I pointed at him and narrowed my eyes dangerously.

"You don't hit the buzzer. You don't speak. I'll do all the work. Do NOT mess this up for me or I swear you'll be paying me that five thousand dollars. Am I understood?" Adam shrank back as I was talking. Apparently, I was pretty scary when I was mad.

"Yes m'am." He replied. I nodded.

"Good." I grabbed his arm and dragged him on stage while Bree went to explain the change to Ted. Meanwhile, Emily Sanders, the girl contestant from Welkerville came over, a cocky smirk on her face.

"Well hello Calla." She said in her absolutely ANNOYING British accent. I faked a smile.

"Hello Emily." I greeted coldly. Emily looked at Adam.

"You must be her partner. I'm told your name is Chase?" she held out her hand. Adam fist bumped her.

"Nah, it's Adam. My brother is sick." He replied. "Lost his voice."

"Oh, poor boy." Emily said, wiping her hand on her shirt as if Adam was a walking germ. She had this disgusted look on her face. "So, what's your grade point average Adam?"

"Umm, not sure. But I did get straight Cs this semester." I slammed my head onto the podium. Was it possible for a bolt of lightning to come out of the sky, blast through the roof and put me out of my misery? I really hoped so.

"Oh, well then." Emily said, a little surprised. She smiled at me.

"Well then. Playing with a disadvantage? Seems a little cocky for someone who's never won before." Emily smiled at me cruelly.

"Yeah, well I didn't want to make it impossible for you to win this year. I mean, I had to play fair. Right?" I said through gritted teeth.

"Oh okay then." Emily walked away, still smiling. I slammed my head back down on the podium.

"Adam?" I asked.

"Yeah?" he looked at me curiously.

"Kill me."

xXx

"Okay, welcome to the Academic Olympics Finals! I'm your host, Ted Berkley! Representing Welkerville are reigning champions Emily and James Sanders!" the crowd applauded for the two siblings. "And representing Mission Creek are Calla Parker and replacing his sick brother, Adam Davenport." Silence. Like usual.

"We'll start with Welkerville." Ted continued. "Alright, what is the atomic number of silver?"

"It's 47." James replied quickly. Ted nodded as the screen turned green. He turned to us.

"Mission Creek, what are the four organs in a plant?"

Adam opened his mouth, but I beat him to it. "Roots, stem, leaves, and flower."

"Correct." I turned to Adam.

"What did I say about speaking?" I asked.

"Not to." He replied, a little downcast. I nodded, too focused on winning to care.

"Exactly, but just out of curiosity, what were you going to say?" I asked.

"That only humans have organs and they look like pianos." I shook my head.

"Okay, be quiet. Please and thank you." I turned back as the question came to us.

"Mission Creek, you have a right angle triangle. The shortest side is three centimetres and the second shortest is 4 centimetres. How long is the longest side?" Ted asked. I smiled; math was my strongest point.

"Five centimetres." I said with only a second's thought. Ted asked Welkerville a question and Emily got it right. He turned back to us.

"According to Hamlet, what is the question?" he asked. I smiled, glad that Jessica had forced me to take that drama class last year.

"To be or not to be. That is the question." I quoted as the screen lit up green.

"Correct." He asked another question and Emily got it right. Then he turned to us.

"What sport involves hitting with a ball with a large hooked bat?" he asked.

"Hurly."I replied. He nodded. He asked us the rest of the questions and both of our teams got them both right. Crap that meant a tie breaker. I always lost at the tie breaker.

"Okay Adam, this is a special question. Anyone can answer, so shut up. If you guess wrong, they get the point by default."

"Got it." He said. Ted smiled at the crowd.

"Alright, tie breaker tie. This is for all the chips! As of September 2013, who is the world's fattest man?"

My mind completely went black. All I could think about were sumo wrestlers in china and I didn't know the names of any of them. I was going to cry, except for the fact that Emily and James were stuck. Adam raised up his hand.

"Adam! No!" I hissed, but it was too late.

"Mission Creek?" he asked. I lay my head on the podium, dying inside.

"It's Paul Mason." He answered.

"That is…correct." Ted replied, a smile in his voice. My head shot up.

"What?" I demanded. Emily and James looked just as surprised.

"What?" they exclaimed. Adam grinned happily.

"Congratulations Mission Creek. You've won." Ted said. I squealed and hug Adam. "And that ends our Academic Olympics. See you all next time."

"H-h-h-how…what…how did you know that?" I asked, still shocked.

"The dude can eat a hundred pies. He's my hero." Was the reply. I laughed and skipped over to Emily to mock her.

**Chase's POV**

"Hey boys. Here you go!" Calla came skipping into the lab, ice cream in hand. Ever since the competition, she was in the best mood I'd ever seen. She'd even offered to tutor Adam for free.

"Thanks." I took the strawberry one while Adam grabbed the mint one.

"Hey you're voice sounds better." Calla grinned, sitting down next to me.

"Feels better too." I smiled back. "So, did you pay off the bills?"

"Yep, and I still have another three hundred bucks, so Bree and I am going to go shopping this weekend."

"Cool. Can we come?" Adam asked. Calla shrugged.

"Sure, if you want to listen to our girl problems." She replied.

"Sweet!" Adam cheered.


	6. Grandma VS Exoskeleton

**Chase's POV**

"Hey Calla, hand me that monkey wrench please." I held out my hand as she tossed it to me. She was here earlier than usual for a Saturday, but that was because today was the day, the big invention sale called "The Call."

So anyway, we (Calla, Mr. Davenport and I) were all doing last minute checks on all the inventions. Meanwhile, Leo was walking in between the displays, looking at them in awe.

"What's this?" he asked, picking something up. I wasn't paying too much attention to him.

"No Leo, that's part of my put that down collection." Mr. Davenport ran up to him, pulling the device from Leo's hands.

"Oh, sweet pen." Leo's easily distracted mind must have found something new to play with. Mr. Davenport explained to Leo that it was a highly pressurized air canister and that it could inflate a blimp. Calla wanted to use it as a hair drier when this was all done.

"This little thing?" Leo didn't believe him. "Impossible."

Suddenly, a massive gust of wind hit us, nearly knocking me off my feet.

"This is why I suggested we Leo-proof the lab!" Calla hissed, grabbing onto the podium to keep herself standing. I stumbled over to Mr. Davenport and Leo to try and shut off the device. Mr. Davenport managed to wrestle it from Leo and shut it off before any of his inventions fell.

"You might want to put a little warning sign on that!" Leo exclaimed.

"Yeah, that might be a good idea." Calla commented dryly, pulling her now messy hair into a ponytail.

"So, what are you having? A garage sale for geeks?" Leo asked curiously. Mr. Davenport faked a laugh.

"No. We are preparing for…The Call." He finished dramatically. Calla and I smirked as his theatrics.

"Once a year, Mr. Davenport, Cal and I present his newest devices to all the international buyers." I explained.

"In other words, ka-ching!" she grinned, before doing our special handshake with me and Mr. Davenport. Leo intervened, trying to get our attention.

"I want to be in on…The Call." Leo copied Mr. Davenport. I chuckled.

"Yeah, sorry Leo. There's no more room. Right Calla?" Calla thought about it.

"Well, I could use a little more help getting my share ready." She said, looking at Mr. Davenport. "I'm a little behind because I was sick on Thursday. Maybe Leo could help me with that."  
"Yeah, there's plenty of ways Leo can help out." Mr. Davenport agreed. I looked at him. "As long as someone follows him around everywhere he goes with a fire extinguisher." He amended.

"But Mr. Davenport!" I objected. "Calla and I are way better at selling the stuff than Leo."

"Please, I could sell anything. I could sell nun-chucks to a nun named Chuck." I looked at him.

"It's true. He did that last week on a dare. He own ten bucks and twenty from Sister Chuck." Calla agreed.

"I could sell this without even knowing what it is." Leo picked up an electro-field destabilizer and started showing it off to an imaginary audience.

"No Leo! That's an electro-field destabilizer. What ever you do…" Mr. Davenport said as the device touched the metal podium and Leo was sent flying into the lab doors. "…let it touch metal."

I laughed at the sigh. "I have to admit; a small part of me was hoping that would happen."

"Well, could a big part of you come over here and HELP ME UP?" Leo yelled. Calla sighed and ran forward, pulling Leo to his feet.

"There you go cranky. Oh and one more thing…" she went to the equipment room and came back, carrying a small fire extinguisher. She handed it to Leo. "You might need this."

XXx

"Yes mom, Leo and I are settling in just fine in our new house." Tasha said on the phone as Bree and I walked into the living room. She waved at us before going back to her phone call. Meanwhile, everyone else was doing their usual Saturday afternoon thing. Adam was lifting Leo to bulk up, Davenport was hopping around on one foot, singing some random pattern of sounds while wearing a weird-looking hat with antennas on it, and Calla was videotaping his dance while texting Rebeccka, Kaitlin and Jessica the answers for yesterday's chemistry homework. Bree disappeared for a second, and then reappeared, holding a red bouncy ball.

"Wanna play catch?" she asked. I nodded.

"Sure." We headed over to the kitchen table, tossing the ball at one another while I listened in on Tasha's conversation. It wasn't really eavesdropping; she was so loud while on the phone and my super sensitive hearing picked it up easily.

"Yes, you should come and visit." Tasha said, clearing not liking the idea one bit. She then looked around the room and decided that it wasn't a good idea. "But not today!"

I smirked, tossing the ball farther so that Bree would have a challenge. "Why? Because Donald's not feeling well." Mr. Davenport stopped and looked at Tasha. "I've got to go; he just threw up in my purse. Love you, bye."

She hung up the phone. "You know, we're going to have to have your mother over eventually." Mr. Davenport told her.

"No, we don't." Tasha replied. "Look, my mother doesn't just visit she has inspections. If she spots anything weird, she will use it as an excuse to move in."

I was a little distracted by the conversation and accidently threw the ball to far. Bree super-speeded over to catch it, stopping right next to Tasha and Mr. Davenport.

"Nothing weird here." She said cheerfully before coming back to our game.

"Honey, when your mother visits, I will shower her with love, I will make her feel welcome and I will do everything humanly possible to-" Mr. Davenport was cut off by the doorbell. Tasha freaked out immediately.

It's my mother!" she exclaimed. She really didn't need to though; Leo's grandmother's face was on our security screen.

"I'll be in the lab." Mr. Davenport panicked and ran downstairs. Calla picked up the video camera and looked into the lens.

"And that is why Leo's grandmother doesn't like Mr. Davenport. Because he's a coward." She said smiling before shutting off the camera. Tasha looked at Adam, Bree and I, still freaking out.

"Quick! Turn invisible!" she ordered. We all looked at her. "Oh come on! You have every other freaky ability. Just…run and hide!"

We all hid behind the counter, even Calla. Then she froze. "Wait, why am I hiding? I work here."

Bree gave her a look and pressed her finger to her lips. Calla sighed, but stopped talking as Leo's grandma came in.

"Oh good, it's unlocked." She said. Tasha faked a smile.

"Mom!" she cried hugging her. "You're here."

"Would have been here sooner if it hadn't been for your stupid gate." Leo's grandma complained.

"Oh, that's just Donald's titanium security fence." Tasha explained.

"Well if you ram it with your car hard enough, it pops right open." The grandma replied before looking at Leo. "Leo! There's my baby! Come here and give grandma a kiss."

Adam and Calla started mocking Leo quietly. Bree giggled. I gestured to the hallway.

"We can't stay here forever." I whispered. They all nodded and we started to leave. Leo's grandma kept talking.

"Grandma brought your favourite; bran fruit cake." she said, then trailed off unexpectedly. Then, in a very loud, questioning voice: "Who are they?"

We all froze and turned to see the family looking at us. Calla looked between us and Tasha, then straightened up. "Oh, we're uh…we're the staff."

"Staff?" Leo's grandma repeated. Calla nodded.

"Yeah well, it's a pretty big house." She replied. Leo's grandma looked at Tasha.

"Oh Tasha, still so lazy." She scolded with an amused tone. Tasha glared at her.

"And you're still so…my mother." She ended in a fake cheerful voice. Leo's grandma looked at Adam.

"So what do you do?" she asked. Adam grinned.

"Well, I collect rocks, I lift heavy things, I chase bugs-" he started to list all his weird and random hobbies, but Calla stopped him by elbowing him in the ribs.

"He's the chef." She informed Leo's grandma. Apparently, those lying lessons Mr. Davenport had insisted on actually worked.

"Oh, right." Adam seemed to get where this was going. "Usually I wear a puffy hat and shout things in Italian. Bonjour!"

We all laughed like it was a joke. "Adam, always the kidder." Tasha smiled convincingly. Leo's grandmother looked at Bree.

"And who is she?" she asked. Bree smiled shyly and Calla opened her mouth to speak, but Tasha beat her to it.

"Bree is my personal trainer." Tasha said. Leo's grandmother raised her eyebrow.

"And just what does a personal trainer do?" she asked suspiciously.

"It's personal?" Bree didn't sound too sure of her response, but Leo's grandmother bought it anyway. She turned to me.

"And Chase," Tasha walked over to me "Chase is Leo's…nanny." Leo and I both stared at her while Calla and my siblings tried to keep from laughing out loud. "Man nanny." Tasha corrected herself. "Manny."

"Aren't you a little young to be a manny?" Leo's grandmother asked. I smiled.

"Aren't you a little young to be a grandma?" I countered. Leo's grandmother blushed.

"I like you." She decided. Then she turned to Calla. "Since you seem to be the speaker of the group, what's your job?" she asked. Calla smiled politely.

"I'm Mr. Davenport's personal lab assistant. I help him with the bigger projects and personally manage a few of his smaller ones. Speaking of which, I should probably get back to work, seeing as Mr. Davenport is ill after all."

"Can I help?" Leo's head shot up. Calla shrugged.

"Sure, if you want. But you have to bring your  _manny_?" Calla smirked at me. I returned the look with a glare of my own.

"Sure, come on Chase!" Calla, Leo and I headed down the hall down to the lab. The second we were out of listening range, the two burst out laughing.

"Manny!" Calla giggled. "Oh man, I was going to go with butler or doorman or hell, servant. But this is WAY better!"

"No it is not!" I objected as we hit the same floor as the lab.

"Yeah it is! That was hilarious!" Leo chuckled. I followed Calla and Leo into the lab where Mr. Davenport was working on some last touched. "Hey Big D. My grandma's here."

"Yeah, I know. Why do you think I'm down here?" he replied. "Uh, Chase, can you adjust the power levels on the quantum flux discombobulator?"

"Sure." I agreed, doing as he asked. Meanwhile, Calla started to rearrange the displays, "making them pretty" as she liked to put it. Leo and Mr. Davenport were joking around over in the corner. I glared at Leo, then I remembered what I had done earlier. "Hey, Cal!" I called, pulling out the presentation packets. I jogged over to Leo and Mr. Davenport and handed it to them, thinking they'd be thrilled. I was wrong.

"I say we just wing it." Leo suggested. Mr. Davenport nodded.

"Leo's right. We shouldn't over think it." He agreed. I looked at Calla for back up, but she had started doodling on the cover of her packet with a highlighter, trying to avoid attention.

"But guys, I wrote an entire script filled with our spontaneous yet witty banter." I objected. Calla smiled.

"And we'd all like to hear that…someday." She assured me. I gave her a look.

"But now, Big D, Cal, and Leo are chilling on the selling." Leo, Calla, and Mr. Davenport started to do a weird looking handshake.

"No, no, no handshakes!" I yelled. They all looked at me. I turned to Mr. Davenport. "I mean, Leo's great and all, but you, Calla and I are the terrific trio here. What if something happens? He could get electrocuted.  _Again_."

"Yeah, but we could use the help." Mr. Davenport grinned. "I mean this year, I am unveiling my coup d'etat.

Leo gasped and put his hands over my ears. "With children in the room?" he asked, horrified. What did he think coup d'etat meant?

I slapped his hands away. "No, I am talking about a level of technology so amazing that I have to unveil it game show style!" Mr. Davenport hit a switch and the doors behind him opened. He held out his hands and presented to us what looked to be a giant robotic suit.

"It's my exoskeleton!" he announced. "And Leo, you have done such a great job helping, you're going to be in it when we make…The Call."

I stared at him, mouth agape. What? Why Leo? Why not me? Leo ran forward towards the exoskeleton, his eyes shining in awe at the invention. "What?" I demanded from Mr. Davenport. "No. You said that I was going to present the exoskeleton."

"Chase, you've been doing this for years." Mr. Davenport chided. "It's not going to kill you to let Leo demo one thing."

"Well, it might. Depends on whether or not he figures out the weapon systems." Calla mentioned. Leo looked at her.

"This has weapons?!" he shouted gleefully. Calla looked worried.

"Oh crap." She muttered. Then, in a more cheerful voice. "No Leo, it doesn't have weapons. I was just playing around."

"Besides, there will plenty of other small things for you and Calla to do." Mr. Davenport went back to our conversation.

"Yeah, like stand and point Vana." Leo mimicked the girl from Wheel of Fortune. Calla glared at him.

"Hey! I'm Vana!" she told him.

"It doesn't matter!" I was very frustrated with those two. Leo, for stealing my spot in the presentation, and Calla, for taking his side. Then, an idea hit me. I took a deep breath. "Sorry. Mr. Davenport's right. Leo, you should demo the exo."

"See, that's more like it." Mr. Davenport smiled proudly. I smiled at Leo.

"You deserve it." He grinned. Leo and Mr. Davenport went to go get Leo ready to present the machine, leaving Calla and I standing around. She looked at me.

"You took that awfully well." She commented suspiciously. I frowned, pretending to be confused.

"How else could I take it? Whining wasn't going to help my case." I replied. She narrowed her eyes at me.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're plotting something?" she asked. I shrugged.

"Because you have no ability to trust?" I suggested. She looked at me, clearly offended.

"What? I have the ability to trust!" she objected. I smirked.

"Then prove it. Trust me when I say I'm not up to anything." She crossed her arms.

"Fine. I will."

"Good." I nearly laughed at her expression.

"See you later." She stalked off in the other direction. I pulled out a screw driver and turned towards the exoskeleton.

"Buckle up exo; you're about to go on Mr. Leo's wild ride." It didn't take me long to change the settings on the exoskeleton. Calla and I had helped Mr. Davenport build it, so I knew exactly which wires to switch. This Call was going to be one none of us would ever forget.

Xxx

"Mr. Davenport!" Calla called, fiddling with the screen. Four people appeared on the screen.

"Hello, and welcome to…The Call." Mr. Davenport greeted the potential buyers. "I'm, as you obviously know, Donald Davenport and this is my sale. My assistants will show you some of the inventions for sale. Leo, Chase?"

Call turned the camera on us. I grinned as Leo picked up the first device. "Davenport Industries Tabletop Particle Collider." Leo held it up. "I have no idea what it does, but it sure looks pretty." Calla smirked. I rolled my eyes, but even the buyers seemed to find Leo amusing. I didn't.

"Isn't he cute?" I laughed, pushing Leo away. "Kids…Okay, up next we have something even more exciting."

Calla smiled again, but I couldn't tell why. Maybe she liked my pitch. "It's thrilling, yet mysterious. Exotic, but useful. I have no idea how any household has survived without the…" I turned to my right to present the invention to find the podium empty. Leo stepped in front of me, holding it proudly. "Leo!"

"Go on, you're doing great." Leo said, showing off the device.

"You stole my thunder." I accused. I turned to Mr. Davenport. "He stole my thunder."

"Who needs thunder when you've got lightning?" Leo asked, pretending to zap me with the device. I pulled it out of his hands while Calla signalled Mr. Davenport to step in. He grabbed us by the backs of our shirts and dragged us out of camera's view as Calla presented the device with a smile.

"Guys, now might be a good time to unveil my coup d'etat." He told us. I stopped, then smiled.

"Yes, Leo why don't you go do you demo?" I gestured towards the exoskeleton.

"One coup de Leo coming right up." Leo ran off to put on the suit. I presented one last invention with Calla and then Mr. Davenport shoved us out of the way.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is finally the moment you have all been waiting for." He announced, signalling Calla to switch the camera out of the close up view so that the buyers could see the whole thing. I grinned, getting out of the way.

"It's the moment I've been waiting for." I said under my breath. Leo came walked up to us, wearing the suit. He turned and faced the buyers.

"Exoskeleton in the house!" he announced to their stunned faces.

"Oh, this is going to get us a fortune!" Calla whispered to me gleefully. Mr. Davenport nodded, then went back on screen.

"That's right; the power of ten men in a one size fits all suit. Leo, please demonstrate by lifting this table." He stepped back, making room for Leo. "Now, ladies and gentlemen, note how elegantly," Leo slammed his fist down on the table, breaking it in two. "Smashes my table of priceless inventions!"

I couldn't help but laugh. Calla turned to me. "What did you do?" she demanded. I opened my mouth to answer, but saw Leo coming straight for us.

"Look out!" I yelled, pushing her out of the way as Leo swung at her. We both ran to the other side of the lab, soon followed by Mr. Davenport. "Gee, if only I had warned you that letting Leo help us was a bad idea."

"Leo! Stop!" Mr. Davenport screamed.

"I can't! I'm not doing anything!" Leo was panicking. "This thing is out of control." He crushed more inventions as he said that. "My bad! You didn't need that did you?" another crash. "Was that expensive?"

Mr. Davenport ran in front of the video screen while Calla and I hid behind the counter. "Live webcams. You know anything can and will happen." He joked, trying to save the sale. Unfortunately, I didn't think anything could at that point. My prank wasn't supposed to go this far.

Leo then smashed the camera though, so it didn't matter. Mr. Davenport ducked behind the counter along with me and Calla. "I don't get it! We must have tested it like a hundred and twenty times. I don't know what could have happened."

"Something must have gone haywire with the power source when I reversed the controls." I realized. Unfortunately, I said that out loud. "I guess?" I added hesitantly.

Mr. Davenport and Calla glared daggers at me. "I'm sorry!" I apologized. "I didn't mean for it go berserk. I just wanted to mess with Leo."

Mr. Davenport looked up as Calla's food and drink cooler went flying over out heads. "Well next time can you give him a wedgie like everyone else?" he yelled. The exoskeleton chose that moment to turn on us.

"Big D, I hoe this doesn't affect our friendship, but I think I'm about to crush you." Leo warned as he picked Mr. Davenport up by his collar.

"Not the face!" Mr. Davenport begged. Suddenly, the suit froze, then went limp, as if it had simply stopped working.

"I think you drained it's battery." Calla said from behind me. She leaned against the counter, weak with relief. "Not a moment to soon."

"Leo, get out of that thing!" Mr. Davenport ordered, flipping up the face mask. Leo smiled at Mr. Davenport.

"I know this wasn't exactly what you were going for Big D, but man, are we gonna sell a TON of these!" Mr. Davenport glared at him while Calla and I unlocked the suit from the back.

"Come on out Leo." Calla said as the suit finally opened up. Leo stepped out, still grinning. Mr. Davenport grabbed a drill and started to undo my mistake.

"Chase, how could you do this?" he demanded, not looking at me.

"With my mechanically inclined intelligence, how could I NOT do it?" I asked, a prideful smirk on my face. Mr. Davenport stopped.

"Well you did something alright; you ruined my biggest sale of the year." He accused. "Now I'm going to have to reschedule…The Ca-you know what, it's not even fun to say anymore!"

"Already on the rescheduling." Calla called from her desk as she typed an apology email. "I'm blaming this all on a practical joke done by the boys, so they know it was a design error."

"Good work Calla." Mr. Davenport commended her as Tasha stormed in.

"What on Earth is going on down here?" she demanded.

"The exoskeleton went berserk and almost crushed me." Mr. Davenport explained. Tasha looked at him.

"My mother is upstairs."

"Yeah, okay you win." Mr. Davenport agreed. Tasha crossed her arms, giving us all a stink eye.

"She's been asking where you guys are and I've been running out of excuses. I need everyone upstairs acting like a normal family NOW!" she yelled, stalking out in frustration. Mr. Davenport had a panicky look on his face.

"We'd better do as she says; she's more prone to violence than the exoskeleton." He said. We all nodded in agreement. Mr. Davenport started to walk out, but stopped in front of me. "But Chase, I'm very disappointed in you. I don't want you on the next call."

He walked off, leaving us all alone in the lab. Leo walked up to me. "I wasn't trying to bump you out." Leo said. "I was trying to show you up."

"Okay 1, what's the difference, and 2, did you really have to do that Leo?" Calla asked, spinning around in her chair to face us. She had this disapproving look on her face that I couldn't stand.

"If you're going to give me the riot act too, I don't want to hear it." I glared at her. She stood up, crossing her arms.

"I wasn't going to Chase. I was going to try and help you get back in the next call." She snapped. "But if you don't want me to, fine. If you need me, DON'T."

She stalked off. Leo gave me a side look. "Ten bucks says an angry Calla could take on the exoskeleton and win." He said before following her out.

**Calla's POV**

"Hey Adam." I skipped over to Adam as he stirred the acid like pasta. Leo followed me, having nothing better to do. "Watch-ya-doing?"

"Cooking!" Adam exclaimed happily, showing me the smoking pot. I nodded.

"Oh." I replied. Then a confused look appeared on my face. "Wait, that's food?"

"Ha-ha." Adam fake laughed as Big D walked in.

"Donald!" Leo's grandmother greeted. "It's about time. I was beginning to think you were avoiding me."

"I was!" Mr. Davenport replied. "I mean, I was sick. I was feeling very ill. And I have a very important phone call that's not nearly as important as you."

"Smooth one Big D." Leo muttered. Adam and I laughed.

Leo's grandmother didn't buy it for a second. "Nice save."

"Thank you, I thought so." He looked around at Adam and Bree, who was doing jumping jacks in a corner. "Uh, Tasha…what are Adam and Bree doing?"

"You mean our chef and trainer?" Tasha asked. Mr. Davenport nodded.

"That explains what they're doing." He understood immediately. Adam lifted the spoon out of the bowl. It was smoking, so he shoved it back in.

"Just a couple more minutes!" he called. I looked at him.

"Until what? You melt the pot?" I asked. He gave me a look as Tasha walked over.

"You know what? Let's just all sit down and have a nice dinner together." Tasha smiled. Leo stared at his mother.

"We can sit down, but having a nice dinner just isn't going to happen." He stated. Tasha glared at him.

"Hey! You're Leo's manny and you're letting him near a hot stove?" Leo's grandmother demanded. I looked back at them to see her glaring at Chase, who was setting the table. Chase looked between the old woman and Leo, then ran over. He started to pull Leo away from the stove.

"Watch it Leo. Do you want to get sent to bed without any supper?" he asked. Leo looked at the whole setup, then back at Chase.

"Yes." He replied. I smirked.

"I'll sneak you some pizza under the door." I promised, texting my mom to tell her I wouldn't be home for dinner. We all sat down as Adam served his meal. It was supposed to be spaghetti. It looked like black, string-like rocks.

"What is this?" Leo's grandmother demanded in outrage. Adam shrugged helplessly.

"Um, pasketti?" he suggested.

"What in the name of great Caesar's ghost is going on around here?" Leo's grandmother looked to Tasha for answers.

"Trust me, there is nothing unusual going on around here." She assured her. "Everything is completely normal."

Suddenly, there was a large explosion as the exoskeleton burst through the kitchen wall. "Well that was just horrible timing." I remarked dryly right before it flipped over one of the counters.

We all stood up. Leo's grandmother looked at all of us. "What is that?" she demanded.

"Um, that's another one of our staff." Leo decided as it started to destroy the kitchen. "Go away Jaden, we don't need you right now!"

Leo's grandmother looked at him. "I may be old, but I'm not senile!" she yelled. "And that's not butler! I'm out."

We all ran behind the couch for protection. Although, that was stupid in my opinion. That counter was granite. A couch isn't going to last half as long as the counter did.

"Adam! What are you waiting for? Go take that thing down!" Bree screamed. Adam started to stand up, but Tasha pulled him down.

"No! You can't!" she exclaimed. "Because if you do someone will know that someone has…certain abilities!"

Wow, nice job Tasha. That totally didn't tell Leo's grandma that we were keeping secrets. A chair went flying over our heads. Adam glared at the machine. "Well now, that's great! Now dinner's ruined!" he yelled.

"Not the priority here Adam!" I reminded him. Leo's grandmother looked at Mr. Davenport.

"Donald! You're the man of the house; do something!" she ordered. Mr. Davenport nodded, then threw a pillow at the exoskeleton. It batted it away like it was a fly. We all looked at him.

"What?" he asked. "It's called a throw pillow for a reason."

A commotion from behind me caught my attention. I turned my head to see Chase and Leo, the latter holding the electro-field destabilizer. Wow, we need shorter names for these things. I made a mental note to talk to Mr. Davenport about that later.

"You do it. I'm sorry for stealing your sizzle." Leo held the device out to Chase. Said bionic boy shook his head.

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry. I just have to get used to having another brother around." Chase apologized. Mr. Davenport smiled.

"Guys, really liking the heart-felt moment here, but I'm running out of pillows." He reminded them, throwing the last blue pillow at the suit. Leo grinned.

"Should we take down this bad boy together?" he suggested. Chase nodded.

"I flip, you zap?" he suggested. Leo nodded as Chase stood up.

"Hey, exo!" He jumped, doing a flip over our heads, then landed between us and the exoskeleton. He then did another flip in front of the exoskeleton, drawing it's attention away from the rest of us. Leo ran up from behind the suit, holding the destabilizer. He went to zap the suit, but it was ready for him.

It knocked the device out of Leo's hands, then grabbed Leo by his arms. We all watched it like we were at the movies. It didn't seem real. Leo looked at Chase with a fearful expression on his face.

"Did we have a plan B?" he questioned. Chase bit his lip, thinking. Meanwhile, Leo's grandmother had other plans.

"Hey! No one lays a hand on my grandson!" she yelled, running forward and kicking the exoskeleton in the stomach. He stumbled back, releasing Leo as his grandmother ran back over to us.

"Way to go grandma!" Bree cheered. "And you didn't even break a hip."

I looked back at Leo and Chase. Chase still had a worried look on his face, but it was quickly replaced by determination. He sent a look at Leo's grandmother, then at Mr. Davenport. It took me a second to follow his thoughts. He was asking for permission to use his bionics. Mr. Davenport nodded as the exoskeleton chose Leo as his new target.

Chase ran forward, pulled Leo to his feet and created his force field, protecting them. "What is that?" Leo's grandmother exclaimed.

"Another one of Mr. Davenport's devices." I replied, lying quickly. "It's a plasma shield that he's been working on. Chase and I were testing it earlier."

Leo grabbed the destabilizer as I spoke, gripping it tightly. Both boys, still encased by the protective barrier, lunged forward, zapping the machine. It was sent flying across the room as it started to malfunction. It would take months of work before it was operational again. But just to be sure, I went over to it and kicked it softly. Nothing happened.

"It's done for." I called running over to the group. They all cheered, hugging each other in relief. The only one not happy was Leo's grandmother.

"Somebody had better tell me what's going on right now and right now just past, so you ain't talking fast enough." She glared at all of us.

"Uh, Rose, there's a completely rational explanation for all of this." Mr. Davenport said, trying to think. "You are…delusional. Who wants desert?"

I couldn't help it. I raised my hand along with Adam and Leo. The latter's grandmother glared at Mr. Davenport. Tasha sighed.

"Look Mom, this is our life. Our house may be high-tech and chaotic, but it is full of love. And it may not be perfect for you, perfect for our family." Tasha walked over to the others and hugged them all tightly. That left me and Leo's grandma standing all by our selves.

"What family?" Leo's grandmother was very confused. "Who are these people?"

"There are my brother's kids." Mr. Davenport lied. "I adopted them when he died. He…fell...in a volcano."

Leo's grandmother looked at them suspiciously, then smiled. "Well, why didn't you just say so?" she asked. "Now it all makes sense. You're just a modern family with a bunch of adorable kids." They all hugged and I stood there, twiddling my thumbs awkwardly. Leo's grandmother turned and looked at me.

"What about you?" she asked.

"Well, I actually DO work here for Mr. Davenport." I explained. "And since this is weird for me intruding on the cute family moment, I'm just going to take my dessert and go." I started to back out. Chase raised an eyebrow at me, then held out his arms.

"Cal…" I smiled, skipping forward and hugging them.

"Okay, thanks Chase." Leo's grandmother looked at me.

"You're the girlfriend of one of these boys, aren't you?" she smiled. We all started at her.

"No, I'm not…" "Grandma!" "She's not…" "Cool! Future sister-in-law!" "I want dessert!"

We all turned to Adam after his last comment. He stared at us blankly. "Seriously though, what about dessert?" he asked.


	7. Back from the Future

**Calla's POV**

It was seven o'clock on a Friday morning and instead of getting my much needed beauty sleep, I was in Mr. Davenport's lab, playing an online game with Leo. Every time those guys have a mission, I have to get down here, no matter what time of day it is. Even if I'm just there for moral support. I had school in little over an hour. Couldn't Mr. Davenport give me a break? It's not like I wouldn't see them tomorrow.

"Alright guys, your mission supplies are packed, the schematics have been uploaded into Chase's chip, and your transport is on the way…Did I forget anything?" said inventor spoke aloud. I exchanged a glance with Leo, but decided to let my boss figure this out for himself.

"No, we'll just guess what the mission is and see how it all plays out." Bree replied.

"That might be funny. You guys should try that next time." Leo suggested.

"A particle collider is a three mile long underground facility where scientists-" he began.

"Race subatomic particles at each other at light speed-" Chase continued.

"For energy experiments." I finished. We all exchanged that nerdy-scientist look. I'd always wanted to check out a particle collider.

"There's a particle collider in Berkley that is accelerating out of control. Your mission is to shut it down." Mr. Davenport told them.

"Awesome!" Adam exclaimed. "I hope one of us knows how to do that."

"Okay, we have to act quickly. The scientists that operate the facility-excuse me," Mr. Davenport pushed both of our chairs to the side "have already activated the control center. If we don't shut it down in time, it will create a massive black hole that will implode the planet."

"Today?" Leo said, outraged. "No, that's not going to work. Today is Shelly Evan's birthday. And her mom makes the best cupcakes."

"Leo!" I looked at him sternly.

"What? I'm just saying, that lady doesn't skip on the sprinkles." He defended himself.

"No, I mean, remember what we talked about? About today's mission?" I reminded him. He nodded with excitement on his face.

"Don't worry Leo, you will get your cupcakes." Mr. Davenport assured my tiny friend. "Adam, Bree, and Chase have al the training they need to complete this mission."

"I don't know Mr. Davenport. We think they might need some…BACKUP!" Both Leo and I did super hero poses, singing the word BACKUP.

"Yes, and you can be BACKUP, right here, in the lab, with me, after school." Mr. Davenport shut down our dream of being super heroes for a day. Damn it. Maybe next week, or whenever the world wants to implode again.

Adam laughed. "They said back up and then you said back up. Saying things twice makes it funny. Oh! Saying things twice makes it funny!"

"Stop!" Mr. Davenport yelled. I was about to intervene, to stop the inevitable fight, but a giant glow distracted me. It looked like a large glowing, electrical ball surrounded by glowing rings. We all screamed and hid behind the counter as a tall, skinny African American man stepped out of the glow. He looked strangely familiar. Sorry, Bree, Leo, Mr. Davenport and I hid. Adam jumped into Chase's arms. But I didn't focus on that for long.

"Mr. Davenport?" I questioned. Did he know who that was and what the hell that weird looking seat behind the man was.

"Nobody panic!" Mr. Davenport called. "It's probably just cable guy."

"Cable guy? Really?" I demanded, my voice shrill. "Is that the best you've got?"

"Relax Calla, Big D. I just came from seven years in the future. Your time machine actually worked!" The man looked at us, a familiar light in his eyes. "It's me. Leo."

We all turned to look at our Leo, who seemed just as freaked out as us. Apparently, he had no plans of ever using a time machine to go back to this moment in time. "Cool! The cable guy has the same name as you!" Adam exclaimed.

"Wait, if you're me…" Leo stepped forward to 'Leo', a curious look on his face. "Then you know the handshake I came up with in case I ever became a spy."

"Requesting identification double-oh-Leo." The older Leo said. They did their weird handshake and mini-Leo (our Leo) jumped for joy.

"You really are me!" he yelled. I stared at Big Leo.

"So you're," Mr. Davenport pointed at Big Leo. "Of him." He pointed at Mini Leo. Big Leo nodded. "Do you know what this means?" Mr. Davenport asked me.

"You cracked time travel?" I guessed.

'No, I cracked time…shut up." Mr. Davenport told me before doing a celebratory dance. "Can you do me a favour? When I see you in seven years, remind me to tell me how awesome I am? Let me high five myself." He gave himself a high five.

"Oh, I'm sure you won't forget." Both Leos said in sync. They looked at each other. "You just said what I said! Technically I just said what I said. Okay, you're going to have to stop doing that. Stop! Stop! Mmmh!" Big Leo covered Mini Leo's mouth with his hand. We all laughed, drawing attention to ourselves. Big Leo looked at us.

"It's so good to see you guys!" he ran forward and hugged Adam, Bree, and Chase. He left me standing there awkwardly. It was insulting.

"It's good to see you too." Chase said, crushed in Big Leo's hug. "Older, yet strangely similar Leo."

They pulled away from the creepy hug and I smacked Big Leo in the arm. "Wow, ignore me much?" I demanded.

"Yeah, but I saw you like, this morning, so you don't deserve one." He said. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Meanie." I called him childishly. He rolled his eyes at me.

"So, what did time travel feel like?" Mr. Davenport asked, curiously. "Did your body mass increase exponentially as you accelerated towards light speed?"

"Umm, I pushed a button, felt a lot of wind, there was a big flash, but yeah. Mass and speed stuff." I smirked. Same old Leo.

"So if you're from the future, what color are my eyes?" Adam questioned, still not completely buying Big Leo's story.

"Uh, brown." He said. Adam's face lit up with shock.

"Oh my god, he IS from the future!" he exclaimed. Bree pushed him aside.

"Ignore him." She told Big Leo. "Let's jump to 2025 and see what people are wearing. I want to start now and be a trend setter."

"Sorry, but it took Big D years to scrape up just enough zano fuel for me to come here once and go back." Big Leo explained. Bree sighed and glared at him.

"Fine, but if I end up wearing mom jeans and hair scrunchies, you are going to get back in that thing and fix it!" she told him. He nodded.

"Sure, no hair scrunchies or mom jeans. Got it." He agreed. A buzzing sound drew our attention away from Big Leo. Mr. Davenport checked his phone.

"The collider mission!" Mr. Davenport remembered. "You guys have to get ready. Head to the equipment room and gear up." He ushered the three lab rats out of the room.

"Bye Future Leo!" "Nice to meet you!" "Congrats on growing out of your awkward stage!" I laughed at what Adam said, although Big Leo looked pretty upset.

"Chill out Big L," I decided to borrow Leo's nickname for Mr. Davenport "It was just a joke."

"That's not it." He told me seriously. There was something in his tone that bothered me. Something that told me I didn't want to know what else he was going to say.

"Hey, why didn't you just bring Future Adam, Bree, and Chase with you?" Mini Leo asked.

"And me. Why are you always forgetting me Leo?" I demanded. He ignored me.

"Wait, let me guess. You just jumped into the time machine and took off without them. That is so me." Mini Leo smiled like it was a joke, but Big Leo didn't. He had the same serious look on his face as before.

"Actually, that's why I'm here." he said slowly, looking at Mr. Davenport. "Adam, Bree, and Chase…don't make it to the future."

The smile stayed on my face for another thirty seconds after that as my mind tried to process what he said. Don't make it to the future? What could he mean by that? How could someone not keep going forward in time…unless…

"What?" Leo demanded.

"OH NO! OH NO! OH NO!" Adam ran in screaming. We all looked at him, shock and horror still on our faces. He must have heard what Big Leo said. But instead, he smiled his idiotic smile. "I forgot to pack my pudding."

He left the room, not even noticing the looks on our faces. "You're uh…you're joking right?" I hoped, begged for him to say yes. To say that he was pranking us. That my best friends were fine and in on the joke.

"Maybe we should go upstairs so that they don't hear?" Big Leo suggested. Mr. Davenport nodded and led us to the elevator. As soon as we entered what would be a three second ride, he started asking questions.

"What do you mean Adam, Bree and Chase don't make it to the future?" He demanded.

"I was sent back here with a video that will explain everything." Big Leo said, pulling out his phone and placing it on the kitchen counter. A blue screen popped up.

"Whoa!" Mini Leo gasped. "What is that?"

"It's a holophone." Big Leo told him. Mr. Davenport grinned.

"Cool! I invented the holophone?" Big Leo shook his head.

"No, she did." He nodded at me. I stared at him.

"I invented the holophone? Me?" He nodded.

"And you made Big D wait in line six days to get one." I grinned.

"Okay, not to come off vain or anything, but I'm AWESOME!" I smiled proudly. Then the screen turned on and it showed a forty-five year old Mr. Davenport. A forty-five year old Mr. Davenport who had put on at least seven hundred pounds and lost most of the hair on his head.

" _Greetings past Donald."_  The Mr. Davenport on screen said.

"Wait, that's me? Please tell me the holophone adds a hundred pounds." For a guy who adored what he thought were his good looks, finding out he looked like that was like the apocalypse.

"Even if it did, what about the other two hundred?" Mini Leo asked.

"The next seven years are pretty hard on you Big D." Big Leo said.

"Or should I say, Bigger D." Mini Leo joked, making the three of us (minus Mr. Davenport) laugh. Mr. Davenport on the other hand looked positively horrified.

" _If you are watching this…WE CRACKED TIME TRAVEL! INTER-DIMENSIONAL HIGH FIVE!"_ Mr. Davenport and Older Mr. Davenport high fived each other through the screen.

"I just high fived my future self!" Mr. Davenport said proudly. We all looked at him. "What? Look at me! Let me have some joy!"

Even the older version of my boss seemed pleased with himself. A voice cleared in the background though, bringing Old Mr. Davenport back to reality.

" _I've sent Leo back in time to stop you from sending Adam, Bree, and Chase on the particle collider mission."_

"What? Why?" Mr. Davenport demanded.

" _Now, I'm sure you're thinking 'What? Why?'"_

"I know myself so well." Mr. Davenport grinned.

" _As a scientist, I'm loathed to change the past, but in this case, I have to make an exception. Adam, Bree, and Chase don't make it back from the mission. Send an automated rover in their place. It's the only chance we have to save them."_

We all looked at the screen, upset. They were going on that mission today. If it hadn't been for Big Leo coming back, they'd die today. Their lives would be over within a couple of hours. I could already feel the tears pooling in my eyes as I thought about what could have happened to them.

" _Oh, and by the way, every time you say 'hey, this calls for a cookie' think about this!"_  Older Mr. Davenport moved to pull up his shirt, but we never saw what was under it because the screen was pulled away from.

" _Come on old man, Leo and I aren't even sixteen years old yet! Don't traumatize us that early!"_  a young woman criticized. She was tall, in her early twenties, with long chocolate brown hair and bright blue eyes.

"Oh. My. God." I stared at the older me in shock. She smiled back at me.

" _Hey Mini me, Mini Leo, Mr. Davenport."_  She greeted.  _"Just wanted to make it very clear, you are NOT to let those three die today, got it? Seriously Mr. D, you're a mess. And it's starting to freak me out. I mean_ , _after all, you gave up on the company!"_

"I what?" Mr. Davenport yelled, looking at Big Leo. He smiled.

"Yeah, as soon as she was old enough, you named Calla CEO so you could focus on the time machine project." He replied.

" _And as for some last minute advice…um, Leo, don't ruin things with that pretty girl of yours. Mr. Davenport, stay away from cookies. Calla, don't let Jay teach you how to drive. Ever. That is, if you don't want to end up in a hospital for six months."_

"Okay…not going driving with my brother then." I muttered.

" _Oh, and while I'm at it, figure out whether or not Eddy is secretly evil. I still don't know."_

With that, the video ended. I looked at Big Leo.

"IS Eddy secretly evil?" I asked. He shrugged.

"Ignoring that, how could I send them on a mission they don't return from?" Mr. Davenport brought us back to the cold, harsh reality.

"And how could you have let your hair recede with so many trusted over the counter remedies available?" Mini Leo demanded. I guess he seemed to realize that Adam, Bree, and Chase were going to be alright after all. It was the only explanation for why he was still joking.

"If Adam, Bree, or Chase hear any of this, it'll shatter their confidence. Please tell me you won't say anything to them.

"We won't." Big Leo and I promised. Mr. Davenport looked at Mini Leo.

"What?" he asked. "Future me speaks for both of us."

"He has a point." I agreed.

"There's not much time. The collider situation is getting worse by the hour. I've got to go build that rover." Mr. Davenport said, starting towards the lab doors. They opened as Adam, Bree, and Chase entered the room, ready for the mission of doom.

"Good to go Mr. Davenport. We'll call you when we reach Delta point." Chase said.

"NO!" Mr. Davenport snapped. All three teens stopped short, surprised by his apparently sudden anger. "I mean, the mission's cancelled."

"What?" Adam asked as they exchanged confused looks. "But you said it was urgent."

"Urgent? No, I think I said urging. Like I was urging you not to go on the mission." Mr. Davenport tired to cover.

"Why?" Bree asked. I stepped in.

"Because I'm sending a rover that can shut down the collider via remote." Mr. Davenport said. "As soon as I build it."

"A rover?" Chase laughed. "You might as well send a handbag on a stick. The three of us can handle-"

"NO!" Mr. Davenport yelled. The smiles on all their faces fell at the sound of his tone. "I said no and I mean it! My decision is final! Now just…everyone go get ready for school."

They stared at Mr. Davenport for a minute, then walked back down the hall dejectedly. I hated the looks on their faces, but it was for the best. "Thank you." Big Leo thought so too. "Future you would thank you too Big D."

"Or should I say, Bald D?" Mini Leo joked. I smiled and grabbed my bag from the couch.

"No, not you." Mr. Davenport called. I looked at him. "Call your mom, I need you working here all day."

"Fine, don't want the world to implode." I dropped my bag and texted my mom as much details as I could. Which wasn't a lot. But I made sure to include big words that even I didn't understand so she would just get confused and decide not to care. Besides, I was at the top of my class.

**xXx**

"Okay, test number forty-two." I said, pressing the button. We'd tried far too many times to design a working rover and none of them were working. It was harder than you'd think. Usually things like this could take days, but we were on a clock. The rover started, moved a couple of inches, and then shut down.

"Crap. Forty-two's a bust." I crossed off our latest design as both Leo's walked in.

"Hey Big D. Hey Cal." I smiled at them as Mini Leo pulled out a test from his bag. "I got an A on my history test."

"Did you cheat by getting the answers from future you?" Mr. Davenport was very frustrated with the rover and wasn't in the mood for one of Leo's schemes. Both of them exchanged a look.

"So, how's that rover coming along?" they asked, changing the subject.

"Not very well." I showed the boys a couple of clips of the ones that blew up. It was cool.

"Are you sure they don't make it back? Maybe you were wrong." Mr. Davenport looked at Big Leo. Said man pulled out his holophone (the one future me designed!) and pulled up a video.

"Yes I'm sure. I'll show you. We downloaded the security camera footage from the control room."

A clip came onto the screen and I saw Adam, Bree, and Chase in the middle of the control room. An alarm blazed in the background as they shut down the collider, no problems. The alarm stopped and they hugged each other, grinning proudly.

"They shut it down." Mr. Davenport sounded relieved. "They completed their mission. You came back for nothing. I think this calls for a cookie."

"You haven't seen the ending." Big Leo said, nodding at the screen. A bunch of dust and dirt started to fall from above them. They had just enough time to look up in surprise as the ceiling caved in and crashed down on top of them. I stared at the screen in horror, unable to avert my eyes until Big Leo shut it off.

"Scratch that cookie." Mr. Davenport said sadly. "Come on Calla, we have to get this thing mission ready."

"Aha. So, it's still not mission ready." Chase's voice made me look up. He looked vaguely annoyed with Mr. Davenport. "Why won't you just let us go?"

"No, no. That won't be necessary. I just need to buy a few things…from NASA. They're having a sale; everything's a million off." Mr. Davenport replied, trying to sound cheerful. "Uh, I'll be gone for a couple of hours. Leo, you're in charge."

"You got it Big D." Both Leo's replied. Mr. Davenport shot Mini Leo a look.

" _Future_  Leo." He clarified before walking out. I looked at Big Leo, annoyed.

"Why are you in charge instead of me? Hello, future CEO here." I gestured at myself. Big Leo chuckled. Adam, Bree and Chase ignored us and started talking amongst themselves.

"He thinks this mission's too big for us." Adam exclaimed.

"It's not that he thinks it's too big-" I tried to console them, but Big Leo stopped me.

"Calla, we promised." He reminded me. I nodded.

"I know." I muttered. The others got back to their conversation.

"I guess Davenport just lost confidence in us." Bree said. Chase snorted in amusement.

"Or he lost confidence in you two." He pointed at his siblings. They both stared at him, offended.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Bree demanded.

"Yeah, I'm the one always carrying you two. You're the weak links." Adam told them. Bree and Chase glared at him.

"Oh, I'm the weak link?" Chase repeated. Adam nodded his agreement. "You can't even spell weak link!"

"Can too!" Adam argued. Then they all started yelling at each other, bickering like little kids.

"GUYS! GUYS! GUYS!" Mini Leo yelled, getting them to stop. "Enough! Future me came back to warn Davenport not to let you go on the mission because you don't come back from it."

"GOD! I never listen to myself." Big Leo cried in frustration. Adam, Bree, and Chase all stared at us in horrified shock.

"I-Is that true Calla?" Chase asked. I nodded, looking away. Tear crept into my eyes again.

"Don't come back." Adam repeated, stunned.

"Wow…I guess this mean we're not…not invincible." Bree realized.

"It all makes sense now." Chase said. "This is why Mr. Davenport forbade us to go."

"Nice going." Big Leo glared at his past self.

"I had to tell them." He defended his actions "Davenport didn't want to undermine their confidence which is exactly what he did by not telling them." Big Leo shook his head at Leo. "Don't you shake my head at me!"

"Look guys, we're sorry for not telling you, but Mr. Davenport made us promise." I told them. Chase nodded.

"We understand Cal. We're not made at you." He assured me. But his tone sounded off, like he was hiding how upset he really was. I sighed.

"You want us to go?" I could tell they wanted some alone time. They nodded. Bree smiled at me weakly.

"Go help Leo get ready for his date." She suggested. I nodded and headed upstairs to help Leo with his date. Trying to get my mind off things, I pulled them both into his bedroom.

"Okay." I sighed. "First off, since this date is very important, we start with clothes."

"Is this really necessary?" Mini Leo asked as I turned to go through his closet. Big Leo shushed him.

"Don't get between a girl and picking out clothes. Lesson one in the girl's department." I rolled my eyes and picked up a truly horrid shirt.

"God no. Just burn it." I told Mini Leo in disgust, throwing it at the taller of the two. Then I turned back to the closet. "Wow, you have like, nothing date worthy in here. I'm bringing you shopping with me in a couple of weeks, even if it means dragging you to the mall by a rope."

I looked at Big Leo. "See if you can find something appropriate in here. I'll be out there." I told him, walking out to see Chase in the living room. "Hey Mini-Einstein, what are you doing?"

"Grabbing Adam's pudding." He held up the chocolate dessert innocently. I laughed lightly and tossed him a spoon from one of the drawers.

"That boy really needs to keep spare pudding in his capsule or something." I joked. Chase caught the spoon, smiling.

"Yeah, I know." He started to leave to go back down to the lab, but stopped. He turned at looked at me seriously. "Thanks Calla."

"Um, you're welcome. Remind me again why you're thanking me?" I asked.

"Um, for the spoon." He said. I nodded.

"Right. Some days, I feel like such a dumb blonde." I laughed.

"I gotta go." Chase told me. I nodded.

"See you later." I called as the elevator doors opened. He never answered me. I decided that he didn't hear me or something and plopped down on the couch with one of Leo's mom's magazines. A couple of minutes later, the two Leo's walked into the room, the smaller one tugging on his sleeves.

"Watch it." He muttered to Big Leo. "Handsome is delicate."

"Yeah, but you're not handsome." I pointed out as Big Leo sat down beside me. Mini Leo rolled his eyes, then looked at us.

"Should I really be going to a movie with Janelle considering that there is still a slight chance that the world might implode?" he asked. I looked at him.

"Well, it is a pretty good movie." Big Leo shrugged.

"Oh crap, I totally forgot about the possible apocalypse." I said, pulling out my phone. I sent a quick text to my mom. It read:  _Can I have an advance in my allowance? The world might implode today and if it does, I want to be listening to that new Avril Lavigne CD when I die._

Big Leo chuckled, reading over my shoulder. "Oh my god!" Mini Leo shouted suddenly. I looked up and saw him holding an orange note.

"What's up Mini-Man?" Wow, I use Mini a lot.

"It's a note from Adam, Bree, and Chase. They went on the mission!" he exclaimed.

"What?" Big Leo demanded. I jumped up and tore the note away from Mini Leo.

"Dear Mr. Davenport, we went to stop the collider. We know we won't make it back, but that's a small price to pay to save you, Leo, Calla and the rest of the world." I read, recognizing Bree's handwriting. Then, below in less tidy writing that could only belong to one person "PS. Sorry we get blowned up."

Mini Leo frowned. "I think that last part is from Adam." He decided. I looked at him, then Big Leo.

"We have to tell Mr. Davenport about Adam, Bree, and Chase going on the mission." I said, trying to stay calm. I pulled out my phone, dialling his private cell phone number. The familiar, yet very annoying voicemail played after a second. His phone must have been off.

"Great, of all the times for him to not answer the phone." I muttered, looking at Big Leo helplessly. "What do we do?"

"I can't imagine my life without Adam, Bree and Chase." Mini Leo said, as they both started to pace.

"I don't have to imagine it, I lived it and it's awful." Big Leo said. Both Leo's stopped, their arms crossed. "Davenport is so distraught he spends the next seven years trying to build a time machine so he can stop this one event and get them back."

They both stop and rest their leg on the coffee table in identical positions. At any other time, it would have been funny to see two people so alike. "Why didn't he himself?" Mini Leo asked.

"I don't want to bore you with the time travel details but mass plays into the calculations and he refused to write down his weight in front of me." Big Leo replied. Mini Leo looked at him sceptically.

"He didn't fit into the time machine?" he guessed. Big Leo looked at him.

"You saw that man; he doesn't fit into anything." He replied. I smirked slightly.

"What about me? I mean, look at me! I'm awesome!" I reminded them. Big Leo smirked.

"That video recording was made about three months ago, when we realized how close we were to being done…" he started off. I frowned.

"I did not gain three hundred pounds in three months. Promise me I didn't!" I demanded. Big Leo shook his head.

"No, but as we weren't entirely sure how close we were to being done, you had to continue with work. You were out on a business conference with some guys up in New York and we didn't want to wait." He continued. I nodded.

"Makes sense. Come on Leo." I got up and started heading for the lab. Mini Leo started to follow me, but Big Leo just looked at me in confusion.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To save their sorry asses, that where." I replied, hitting the button for the lab.

"What?" Big Leo demanded, jumping into the elevator right before the doors slide shut.

"You heard the girl. Let's get going!" Mini Leo shouted as we stopped at the lab floor. Both Leo's followed me into the lab.

"I am not letting you do this. It's too dangerous." Big Leo objected. We ignored him. I started going through Mr. Davenport's desk, looking for a pair of keys.

"We'll be fine." I assured him, not looking up.

"I not worried about you! I'm worried about me!" he snapped. He turned to his younger self. "Besides, you're going to miss your date with Janelle."

"I'm okay with it." Leo replied.

"Again, not worried about either of you. I'm worried about me." Big Leo was on the verge of panic. I wasn't sure whether it was because Mini Leo was missing his date, or because Adam, Bree, and Chase might die. I'm hoping it was the latter. Either way, Big Leo was getting on my nerves.

"They don't know that the room collapses. If we can get there quickly, they can shut down the collider and we can still get them out in time." Leo explained. Big Leo still looked unsure.

"No, Davenport's rover will fix everything." he argued. "Besides, you're still in that awkward clumsy phase where you goof stuff up." I slammed my hands down on the desk, getting his attention.

"Look, we're the only chance Adam, Bree, and Chase have. Now are you in, or are you out?" I asked, deadly serious. I don't joke around about saving lives. Big Leo sighed.

"Fine. I'm going with you." He smirked. "It's time to send in some…BACKUP!" They did the backup pose as I found the set of keys I was looking for. I tossed them to Big Leo.

"We can take Mr. Davenport's Turbo Speedster." I told him. The boys followed me out back to the high speed van. Mini Leo pulled the keys out of Big Leo's hands and opened the driver side door. I climbed into the shotgun position.

"I'll drive." He announced in a sing song voice. Big Leo mimicked him.

"You can't reach the pedals." He replied. Mini Leo gave him back the keys and climbed in behind me.

"You'll drive." He sang. Big Leo hopped in and started it up. We drove away quickly, going nearly as fast as Mr. Davenport's high speed train.

"Oh man…I hope we're not too late." Mini Leo looked at the passing background as we sped towards the facility.

"Don't think about that. Think about something else." I suggested nervously. I didn't want to think about the possibility that when we got to the facility, we'd be greeted by three bodies. "Oh man, remind me again. Why did I take this job? There was a perfectly good opening at McDonald's but NO, I had to take the life threatening job." I muttered under my breath. Big Leo smirked.

"Hey, I've got a question for you." He asked, trying to distract all of us.

"Yeah? What is it?" I looked up from twiddling my thumbs.

"You know how Big D is really secretive about them and their bionics?" Big Leo said aloud. I nodded.

"Yeah? So?" I wondered where he was going with this.

"When did he tell you?" Big Leo continued. I smiled at the memory.

"About six months after I started to work for him, so about three years ago…"

_Epic Flashback Time!_

_One day, out of the blue, Mr. Davenport told me he had a secret project he wanted me to help him with. He told me to come to his house after school, since it wasn't a very far walk. My curiosity getting the better of me, I agreed._

_He showed me into his very fancy, very cool house, then showed me a wicked elevator. At first, I didn't understand why a two story house needed an elevator, but I didn't want to question it. We went down in the elevator and I found myself in the lab._

" _So, Mr. Davenport, what is this project you've been working on? And why did you keep it a secret from me?" I asked as I walked in. Then I saw them._

_A short boy with light brown hair with a computer on his lap. A girl with identically brown hair tied up in a pony tail. She was playing ping pong with a taller boy with black hair. They froze upon seeing me._

_Mr. Davenport walked up behind me. "Uh, who are they?" I asked, nodding at them. Mr. Davenport grinned._

" _Remember how I mentioned to you that bionic hero idea?" he asked. I nodded._

" _Yeah. You said something about them being able to do the jobs humans can't. The ones that are too dangerous or impossible without special abilities." My eye's widened and I stared at them in shock. "Wait, you already started on them? Not fair."_

" _It is totally fair. My lab after all." Mr. Davenport started to argue with me, fourteen year old girl. That showed his level of maturity very nicely._

" _Fine, fair enough. But I think keeping children in your basement is kind of illegal. You are aware of that, right?" I asked._

" _Yes I'm aware of that." Mr. Davenport snapped._

" _Alright." I shrugged. It was none of my business what people did in their basements. "Why are you telling me though?"_

" _I need you to babysit them tonight. I'm going out." Mr. Davenport replied._

" _I'm not a babysitter." I said matter-of-factly. He looked at me._

" _You're still getting paid for the overtime." He reminded me. I beamed._

" _Babysitting? I LOVE babysitting!" I changed my attitude. "Oh yeah, where're you going? An awards banquet? A noble prize award show? A date?"_

_Mr. Davenport smiled. "The last one. I tried that internet dating thing that you suggested and I'm going to meet this woman, Tasha Dooley tonight." He replied. "And I have to get going."_

" _Okay, bye Mr. Davenport!" I called as he left the room. Then I turned to the three bionic heroes. There was a long awkward silence, then "Just so you know, the last time I tried to babysit, I lost the kids. Hopefully this will work out better."_

_They all stared at me, unsure if I was joking or not, but the goofy smile on my face told them that I was. The shorter boy held out his hand. "My name's Chase. This is my sister Bree, and my brother Adam."_

" _ABC, huh?" I joked. "The name's Calla. I'm his assistant."_

" _Yeah, he mentioned you. But why are you babysitting us? You're our age." Adam said. I shrugged and sat down on the stool._

" _No clue. Probably wants to entertain me instead of sending me home." I said. "So, what do you guys do for fun around here? If you say Yahtzee, I'm gonna lose it."_

_End of epic flashback_

"So that's what happened." I finished. Mini Leo frowned.

"What do you have against Yahtzee?" he asked. I opened my mouth to answer as Big Leo pulled up to the facility.

"That's a story for another time. Right now, we got some people to save." I replied. Mini Leo nodded and we ran inside. A loud siren was ringing as we rushed through the place, trying to find our friends. Just as we found the tunnel that would lead us to them, the sirens stopped.

"Why did they just go silent?" Mini Leo asked in a quiet voice.

"They must have shut down the particle collider. We have to hurry!" Big Leo shouted as we raced down the hall. We found them, thankfully still alive. They were staring at a rover that was in front of us.

"Guys!" Mini Leo called to them.

" _What's Leo doing there?"_  Mr. Davenport's voice came from the rover. I ignored him.

"Did you shut down the collider?" I demanded. Chase nodded.

"Yeah, we just finished." He replied.

" _Calla? You're there too?"_  Mr. Davenport exclaimed.

"Then get out of there fast!" I ordered. Mini Leo nodded.

"The room's about to collapse!" he yelled as a scary rumbling noise started to grow louder.

"What?" they all asked, not able to hear us. I grabbed Mini Leo's arm and nodded at the ceiling. He followed my gaze and before I knew it, we were both running towards them. We pushed them out of the way as the ceiling broke apart, collapsing on top of us. I had just enough time to look up before everything went black.

**Xxx**

"Ughh…" I moaned, opening my eyes. It was pitch black, but I could feel the concrete on my back. I was lying against something hard. I think it was a part of the roof. "Leo?"

"Right here…you okay?" his voice came from somewhere to my left.

"Yeah, you?" I turned my head to try and find the source of the voice.

"Yeah…hey, we're still alive." He realized. I rolled my eyes.

"No shit." I muttered. Something moved to my left and the concrete behind me fell a little more on top of me. It hit me hard, near the small of my back. "Stop!"

"Why?" Leo demanded. I glared at where him as my eyes adjusted to the dark. His face was inches from mine.

"Because you might drop more rubble on us and kill us dumbo!" I exclaimed.

"Then what do we do?" Leo asked. I frowned, listening for voices.

"Wait for the others." I replied. I could hear them talking.

"They just saved our lives." Bree was saying. "That was supposed to be us."

"Do they…" Leo trailed off.

"They didn't need bionics to be heroes." Chase's voice was full of horror.

"They know we're alive, right?" Leo asked worriedly. I shrugged, trying to keep my composure.

"I don't think so." I replied.

"They each owed me ten bucks." Adam was devastated.

"Yeah, they think we're dead." I decided. Leo and I exchanged looks.

"HELP!" We screamed. They couldn't hear us at all. It was silent where they stood.

"W-wait a second." Chase said suddenly. "If Leo's gone, shouldn't you be gone too?"

"Big Leo!" Mini Leo and I exchanged excited glances. They had to know we were alive.

"I don't know; this is all new to me." Big Leo replied.

"They're still in there!" Bree yelled. "Adam, dig them out!"

The rubble on top of us started to move. I let out a shaky breath of relief as a bright light shone down on us. Adam was the first thing we saw.

"Leo! Calla!" Bree shouted happily. Leo glared at them.

"Next time that we say get out, get out!" he ordered. They chuckled as Adam pulled us to our feet and trapped us in a giant bear-hug.

"I AM SO HAPPY YOU ARE ALIVE!" He yelled. He put us down. "You owe me money."

I couldn't help but smile at his idiocy, but an alarm made that grin falter. "Oh no. The blast doors are sealing." Chase exclaimed. Adam ran screaming down the hall, making us stare at him. "Everyone out now!" Chase ordered. We followed the screaming bozo until we reached the van.

"Let's go home." Bree suggested. "Mr. Davenport will want to yell at us."

We all piled into the van, Adam and Big Leo in the front, Bree and Mini Leo in the middle, and Chase and I in the back. "Are you guys alright?" Chase asked after a moment. Leo smirked.

"Of course we are. We're Superman and Wonder woman." He replied. I sighed.

"Yeah, apparently we're super heroes now." I replied, trying to brush some of the soot out of my hair. I don't think my mom would appreciate my actions as much as my friends did.

"Hey guys?" Adam called from the front.

"Yeah Adam?" I looked up.

"Thanks."

**Xxx**

"Thank goodness you guys are alright." Mr. Davenport hugged the bionics as they entered the lab, just a couple of steps ahead of us. Then he pulled away. "What were you thinking? Get in here!"

He turned to Mini Leo. "And you…are grounded until…" he looked at Big Leo. "you become you!"

He spun around to face me. "As for you…"

"Keep in mind that I'm your assistant, not your child." I told him, an innocent smile on my face.

"You…have a death wish." He finished.

"I can't argue that." I really couldn't. At least after today. Big Leo stepped in, trying to calm my boss down.

"Look Big D, I know you were worried, but I…" I elbowed him in the ribs. "I mean we, changed the course of the mission and saved Adam, Bree, and Chase."

"I think what he's trying to say is if they saved the world…" Leo looked at me to finish.

"…and we saved them…" we exchanged glances and smiles.

"Then we saved the world!" we finished together, doing our super hero poses. Mr. Davenport nodded.

"Still grounded, still have a death wish." He pointed at the two of us. I rolled my eyes and skipped over to the others, pulling my self onto the counter next to Chase.

"By the way, A Janelle dropped by…" I smirked at the looks of horror on both Leos' faces. "She seemed a little upset."

Big Leo pulled out his holophone and looked up a picture of himself…and a dog. Mini Leo stared at it. "I end up alone with a dog?"

"You better fix this!" Big Leo seemed just as horrified. "I am not walking down the aisle with THAT!"

"Don't be silly; you can't bring a dog to the movie theatre." Adam assured him. I looked at Bree and Chase.

"Movie theatre…?" I questioned. Bree shook her head.

"Don't ask." She told me. I decided to listen to her. Big Leo rolled his eyes at Adam, putting his phone away.

"Well, now that you guys are safe, I guess I should be getting back to the future." He said, walking towards his chair. Mr. Davenport started to brag AGAIN about how he cracked time travel.

"Thanks for coming back for us." Chase smiled at Big Leo. Bree nodded.

"And for helping save our lives." She said.

"Yeah, and for showing us that our time is precious so if we're going to make fun of Leo's height, we've got to do it now." He put his hand on Mini Leo's head. Said boy looked very unhappy with Adam. Big Leo shook his head, getting into the time machine. He said a couple of things to his younger self, then was off with a bright light.

Leo looked at the spot tearfully. "I miss me already."

I laughed. "I know Leo."

"Hey guys, seriously though. Thanks for saving us." Chase looked at us gratefully. I shrugged, then opened my phone to read a text. It was from my mom.

_What exactly do you mean by implode? Is everything alright?_

I smirked, standing up. "I have to go. I need to figure out an excuse for why my hair and clothes look like this…" I gestured at my outfit and hair, still covered in soot and dust "to explain to my mom. Because I don't think saving the world will be too believable with her."


	8. Smart and Smarter

**Adam's POV**

"Hey Calla!' I called as our best non-family friend walked into the lobby. "Check out what I did with my locker!"

She smiled, walking over as I opened it up. It was filled with all my favourite things, instead of books like everyone else. "Ta-Da!"

Calla laughed in amusement. "Nice locker." She told me. I nodded.

"I know, right? Here's where I keep those random strands of hair that I collected to make fake moustaches." I showed her with a dark brown strand. "And here is where I stockpile old lunches or as I like to call them My Tum-Tum Yum-Yums."

Calla nodded, a weird look on her face. She looked like she wanted to make a comment, but decided not to. Leo and Bree walked over to us. Leo was holding a piece of paper, glaring at it like it had stolen his pudding.

"Hey guys, what's that?" Calla looked over Leo's shoulder.

"My progress report." Leo replied. "I can't believe my science teacher says I'm always late for class."

"You ARE always late for class." I reminded him.

"I know that, but I don't need it publicized." Leo retorted. I shrugged, closing my locker.

"Look at this!" Chase ran in, distressed. He was holding a paper just like Leo's. Bree pulled it out of his hands.

"A+, A+, A+, A+, A+, A-, A+, A+." she read. "What's the problem?"

"Did you not see the A-?" Chase demanded. "I just knew my home-ec teacher had it out for me. Always criticizing my muffins."

I grinned, pulling out my own report. "Ha-ha!" I laughed. "I beat you! I got a D+. Plus because I'm better."

"Adam, the plus is…you know what? It's just not even worth it anymore." I didn't know what my sister meant by that, but I ignored her. Calla sighed.

"Nice job Adam. A D+. That's better than your last test!" She congratulated. I smiled proudly.

"A D is not a good grade." Chase told me. "But we don't really expect you to get good grades."

"Chase!" Calla hit him in the ribs. "Be nice. Or I'll taunt you about that minus forever."

"You wouldn't dare." Chase stared at her. She crossed her arms and gave him a look that made me cringe.

"Try me." She said.

"Look, I'm engineered to be the smartest person on the planet." Chase continued to brag about how great he thought he was. He was still a midget though, so it didn't bother me so much. "I just got an A-. I've been relegated to the huddled, unwashed masses of minuses. Like you!"

"Chase, I know this must be hard for you, but look at the bright side." Bree intervened before Calla could make another comment. "Seeing you fall flat on your face is really fun for us."

We all nodded, agreeing with her. "I have got to find a way to reclaim my superiority." Chase said. God, he HAD to be the best, didn't he?

"Well, you could sign up for the student of the semester competition." Leo suggested. Calla made a face.

"Seriously? You're going with that?" she asked. Chase looked between the two of them.

"What's that?" he asked eagerly.

"Every semester, kids compete to see who can best improve the school." Leo replied cheerfully. "Who gets the most votes wins free pencils, a bumper sticker, and a cheesy picture of themselves on the wall."

He pointed to a picture Kaitlin, one of Calla and Bree's friends. "And that cheesy picture will show everyone that my brilliance reigns supreme!" Chase exclaimed, jumping up. "I am so gonna win!"

I beamed. "Ooh! I call your free pencils. No wait. I'll take the cheesy picture. Oh, gosh they both sound so good."

Suddenly the bell rang. Chase and I exchanged glances. "RACE YA!" We yelled, running off to math class. I won, although he'll tell you otherwise.

**Chase's POV**

"So, what do you think?" I asked, handing Calla my own personally made campaign card. She looked at it, then at me.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" she replied. I looked at her. "Um…it's original."

"You don't like it do you?" I could tell by her hesitation. She sighed and shook her head.

"Well…Do you want any crackers? Because this card is just cheesy." She replied. "But don't worry, I'll still vote for you."

"Okay, as long as I have your vote." I couldn't care less if Calla thought my cards were bad. She was just one girl, right? I started handing out cards to random students.

"Vote for me. Tell you friends. Vote for Chase for student of the semester." I was about to tell these two girls all about my website, but Calla pulled me away towards my siblings.

"Show them your card and see what they think." she ordered. I handed Leo a card.

"What do you think?" I asked, grinning. They would love it. It was too amazing for them not to. Leo looked up.

"What do I think or what's appropriate to say to your face?" he questioned. My smile faltered, while Calla's grin grew wider.

"'Chase the Dream'?" Bree read. "Please don't give these to anyone I might want to become friends with."

I smirked in fake amusement. "I've got a whole plan; check it out! I linked the latest facial recognition to the school database to create a laser audited attendance system."

At that moment, Jaden, Calla's brother, walked into the school. The system's alarm went off.  _"Jaden Parker has been late three days in a row."_

A guard by the door pulled said football player to the principal's office. I pointed as he left. "Straight to the principal's office Jaden!" I commanded. He gave me an angry look as he was led into the room, but I'm sure he would get over it quickly.

"He'll thank me later for putting him on the right path." I assured the others. Calla stared at me.

"Really? Because I wouldn't count on it. When Jay gets home, he's going to want to know who put in that system." She said. I smiled.

"And then you'll tell him it was me, right?" She nodded.

"Oh, believe me. I plan on it. But instead of a thank you card, he's probably going to pull something out of his book of pranks. My money's on a locker full of manure." I crossed my arms.

"Please. Jaden's going to be thankful, not revengeful." Calla smirked.

"Ten bucks says you're wrong." She challenged.

"Twenty says I'm right." I countered. She held out her hand.

"It's a deal." We shook, making the bet.

'But dude!" Adam moaned. "You're never going to win like that. Kids want fun stuff, like Jacuzzis in math class and hallways paved with candy. Ooh! And I also think biology would be a lot more fun if we could juggle the frogs before we dissected them!"

"Adam, that's called frog abuse." Leo pointed out. Adam shrugged.

"Fine, we can juggle them after." He decided. Calla decided to speak up.

"Adam, that's called disgusting." He didn't look to disappointed.

"Well then we-" I raised my hand to stop him.

"No. We can't dissect them and juggle them at the same time." I informed him. He sighed.

"Party-poopers." He mumbled. I rolled my eyes.

"Come on, I want to show you what I did in the cafeteria." I nodded to the cafeteria. Calla and Adam followed me, but Bree and Leo stayed behind so that they could talk about something. I think Leo mentioned something about a bionic taxi. I decided I was better off not knowing.

"Oh! Gravy!" Adam cheered, running to get in line as soon as we walked into the room. Calla chuckled.

"That boy sure loves his gravy." She commented. I rolled my eyes as Adam got a few pieces of turkey, and then dumped the entire pot of gravy on his plate. He slid his tray under my scanner.

" _Step away from the gravy."_  It ordered. I smirked. Adam looked down at his plate.

"Don't tell what to do, turkey!" he yelled, earning a couple of stares.

"Adam, that my nutritional scanner. It ensures that everyone gets a perfectly balanced, nutritious lunch." I explained.

"Oh." Adam nodded. "Chase, I don't think your scanner's a very good idea."

I frowned. "What do you mean? Who doesn't love being told how to eat properly?" Adam nodded over to the line, where Calla and two of her friends, Rebeccka and Jessica were getting their lunches.

"Aww man! They're out of gravy!" The blonde one, Jessica, complained as she held a plate of what was supposed to be poutine.

"I've got plenty!" Adam offered. Jessica grinned.

"Thanks Adam!" she replied sweetly, bringing her tray under the scanner.

" _Too many fries."_  The scanner said. Jessica narrowed her eyes.

"Shut up." She retorted, walking over to the table besides us. Rebeccka was next.

" _More green beans."_  The machine told her. She ignored it, sitting besides Jessica. Calla was the last. She slid her tray under the scanner.

" _Cupcake? Really? I wouldn't, but it's your health."_ She stopped, an annoyed look on her face. She turned to me, holding out her tray.

"Hold this please." She said sweetly. I took the tray, then she turned to the cafeteria lady. "Can I borrow that?" she asked, pointing to the empty gravy pot.

"What are you doing?" I asked, curiously. Calla smiled, then proceeded to hit the scanner several times with the pot until it broke. Adam, Jessica, Rebeccka and a few other kids were laughing while I scowled at her. She handed the pot back to the lunch lady, then turned to face me.

"That felt good." She said simply, taking her tray back. She got high-fives from my brother and her two friends.

"Chase, you're going about this all wrong." Adam told me, sitting down next to Jessica. "Let me help."

I looked at him. "How can you help?" Adam grinned, stealing one of Jessica's fries.

"Well, I know how to win you votes." He replied. I crossed my arms.

"Oh, really?" I didn't believe him for a second. He jumped to his feet.

"Give me ten minutes." He requested, running from the room.

"You've got five!" I called after him. When I turned back, three very annoyed ladies were glaring at me, their arms crossed.

"Never try to tell me what I eat." Rebeccka said simply. I sighed.

"It was not that bad of an idea!" I argued. They all looked at one another.

"Yes, it was." They said in chorus. We waited a few minutes for Adam. I was about to give up and leave when he came bursting in the door on top of a shiny cart, decorated with streamers. It was playing loud party music.

"EVERYONE SAY HELLO TO DJ CHASE!" he yelled on a microphone, pointing at me. Everyone got up to my surprise, and started to dance.

"Whoo!" Rebeccka hollered. "Now that's how you get votes!"

I shot a glare at her, then stalked over to Adam. "What is going on?" I hissed. Adam grinned.

"I'm helping you win." He explained. "Or should I say, I'M HELPING YOU WIN." He called into the microphone.

"I do not need a cheesy DJ set up." I objected.

"Yes you do!" Calla yelled from the table. I glared at her and she waved cheerfully.

"I know." Adam replied. "That's why I brought you this awesome DJ set up." He grabbed the microphone again. "IT'S A LUNCHTIME DANCE PARTY!"

He grabbed the large ladle for the gravy and started dancing around me. "Go gravy! Go gravy! Go gravy!"

"But…Oh forget about it!" I slumped down in the nearest chair. Calla laughed.

"God, Chase, you need to have some fun. This is actually a pretty cool idea." She commented, following Adam's lead and handing out random ladles to random people.

**Adam's POV**

"Adam, I know we don't say this to you enough, but you're a genius." Calla said, staring at what I brought into the cafeteria. She was already fumbling around in her pocket for spare change.

"Thank you." I grinned. "What do you think Chase will say?"

"Adam!" my brother yelled, walking in. "For the last time, that is not a giant lunch box."

"I know!" Calla had explained the differences to me the other day. "It's part of your campaign to win student of the semester. I, I mean you, put a vending machine in study hall."

"But those aren't even healthy foods." Chase objected. "Is that key-lime pie?"

"If you give me a dollar, I'll find out." Calla offered. Suddenly, a voice from behind us made us all jump.

"DAVENPORT!" We turned to see a very pissed off Jaden walking our way.

Calla stepped in behind me, trying to hide as she ordered something from the vending machine. I grinned at Jaden. "Who are you mad at?" I asked. Jaden turned on Chase, his fists clenched.

"Your stupid little attendance system got me detention dweeb!" I'd never seen Jaden that mad. Calla stepped in between the nerd and football player.

"Okay, yes, But Jay, he didn't…he uh…" she looked at Chase and sighed in defeat. "Sorry dude but you're on your own. Oh, and you owe me money."

"Hey Jaden! Check out what Chase put in study hall." I distracted him with food, just like my siblings did with me. Jaden looked at the vending machine with a frown.

"Is that key lime pie?" he asked. Calla smirked.

"Yep!" I saw her holding one of the miniature pies. Jaden looked back at Chase.

"You're forgiven…for now." He said, snatching the pie from his sister and walking off. Calla looked at Chase.

"Okay, one, you owe me money from our bet earlier. And two, tell Adam his idea is a good one." She ordered as more people started to buy things from the vending machine. Chase stared at them in shock.

"They love it." He seemed surprised. Calla's friend Jessica bounced over to us, holding a candy bar.

"Well duh." I smiled; glad to be the smart one for once. "They're getting their meal from a machine."

"This. Is. Genius." Calla's blonde friend Jessica skipped over to us, holding a Kit-Kat bar. "Seriously, who's idea?"

"It was Chase's." I said, nodding to my brother. Jessica smiled at him.

"Well, I know who I'm voting for." She said before heading off to her friend's table. I grinned at my brother.

"And you didn't think you needed my help. I'm totally going to win this one for you." I told him.

Calla groaned, face palming. "Oh boy."

"Who, whoa, whoa.  _You're_  going to win this thing for  _me_?" Chase repeated. I nodded.

"Yeah, I just said that." I replied. Chase looked offended. "Don't you think your sudden popularity has something to do with my ideas?"

"No." Chase replied as if it was obvious that I was wrong. "I think that people are finally realizing my campaign slogan 'Chase the Dream' is about me. I'm the dream!"

I frowned, trying to figure why he would think that was better than a DJ cart and a vending machine. "It works on a lot of levels, don't hurt yourself." Chase told me.

"But my strategy was ten times better!" I argued. "You just can't deal with the fact that I'm finally smarter at something than you are."

"Oh, really? Ten times smarter? What, did you use all your fingers and toes to count that one out?" he retorted. Calla stepped between us.

"Hey, that was uncalled for." She snapped. "Don't be mean."

"You know what? You always treat me like an idiot, but not this time." I gently pushed Calla out of the way so she wouldn't be hurt if I decided to punch my brother. "Because I'm entering this contest and I'm taking you down!"

"You wouldn't!" Chase glared at me.

"Are you not listening? I just said I would!" I grabbed my bag, dragging a chair along with me, not that I cared.

"Adam, wait!" I turned to see Jessica running after me.

"What?" I demanded. She sighed.

"Calla sent me to try and calm you down, while she yells at Chase for being a jerk." She explained. "Plus, don't you need a campaign manager or something?"

I smiled. "Thanks Jessica."

"No prob. So, need any help with your campaign?" she asked eagerly. I grinned.

"Well, I have one idea." I grinned as an idea popped into my mind. Jessica looked at me.

"What?" she questioned.

"Well, we need a golf cart…" I began. Jessica frowned.

"Will this get us in trouble?" she asked suspiciously. I shrugged.

"Maybe, but do you really want to walk all the way to science class, on the other side of the school?" Jessica grinned at me, interested.

"Go on." She urged.

**Chase's POV**

I was handing out my business cards and numbers for free flu shot vaccines when a large horn honking distracted me. Why would there be a car horn honking inside of the school? No one seemed to know where it came from; even Calla looked up from her phone to try and find the source.

"Excuse me! Coming through!" I turned to see Adam driving a really cool looking golf cart, Jessica sitting besides him. "Who wants a ride of the High School Party Bus? Whoo!"

"Do you honestly believe that giving kids rides to class is really going to make them want to vote for you?" I asked as everyone gathered around the cart. Adam shook his head.

"Who's going to class? We're just cruising the halls." He replied. I looked at the cart.

"Where did you even get this?" I demanded. Jessica looked up from her phone.

"Oh, my uncle Mike lent it to me after I said I needed it for school." She replied as Calla stepped into the bus behind Adam.

"Wicked idea dudes." She complimented. I glared at her.

"You're a traitor." I accused. She laughed and shook her head.

"Nah, I'm just too lazy to walk." She replied. Adam grinned and looked at the crowd.

"Attention Party Busers! There will be no stops, so if you're looking for a ride to class, plan your jumps accordingly." He told them, before nearly hitting me with the large cart.

I stood there, glaring at them as they went. "Well," Leo said from behind me "my scientific polling which consists of all your crumpled up business cards in the trash can, shows that Adam is beating you by a comfortable margin."

"I was so sure that the vaccines would work!" I complained. Leo sighed.

"In no world would they ever work. Plus, even if they did, you need to go bigger." He replied.

"Bigger how?" I asked, looking at him.

"Well, in my world, food equals votes, so start with that." He suggested. I nodded, grinning.

**Adam's POV**

"Okay, so then what happened?" I asked. Calla was telling me about the time where her brother ended up being her piñata at her eighth birthday party.

"Well, since he forgot to get the…what the hell is Chase doing now?" she stopped. I turned and saw Chase in front of a cheeseburger cart. "You guys do know that food doesn't necessarily equal votes, right?"

"It doesn't?" I asked. Calla sighed, shaking her head and walking over to the cart.

"A hamburger cart? That's the best you've got?" I commented, crossing my arms. Chase smiled.

"The only thing juicier than my burgers is what your about to eat, which is a big heaping pile of hot, tasty defeat."

"No. Rhyming makes people NOT want to vote for you." Calla complained. We ignored her.

"Well, speaking of de-feet, care for a foot rub?" I nodded at my massage chairs by the lockers where Jessica and some other random kid were getting foot massages. Chase stared at the scene.

"What's that?" he demanded. I grinned.

"That is my two minute massage stop. Winning hearts and minds ten toes at a time." I explained happily. I was SO going to win this. I could see everyone looking at the set up with envy. "Hey, go ahead people. First come, first serve."

Everyone, with the exception of Calla, Chase and I, bolted to the massage stop. I grabbed a cheeseburger and walked away. Chase followed me.

"You know what? I've really had it with you!" Chase yelled.

"Aww, what are you going to do about it?" I teased. Chase glowered at me, then smiled.

"You know, you can't really enjoy a burger without a little ketchup on your buns." Chase said, before grabbing the ketchup bottle and pouring the red liquid down my pants.

"Ha! Jokes on you; I kind of liked it!" I grinned, walking back to my massage stop.

"That's enough Chase!" I turned back to see Calla standing in front of Chase, her arms crossed. He was holding the mustard bottle in his right hand.

**Chase's POV**

"Can't we get this started already?" I tapped my foot impatiently. I'd been waiting all week for the final vote count and it was taking forever!

"Patience is a virtue." Calla reminded me. I ignored her, glaring at Adam as he, Jessica and Leo walked over to us.

"This is it. The moment we've all been waiting for." I mused. Adam got this stupid, happy, excited look on his face.

"They found a talking horse that fights crime?" he gasped. Jessica grinned.

"That would be so awesome!" she exclaimed. I shook my head.

"No!" I yelled. They both look disappointed.

"But Super Horsey…" Adam moaned. Calla grinned.

"They're going to announce the results for the vote any minute now. Mrs. Thistle gets to open the results because she's the oldest teacher in school." She explained as said old woman shuffled over to us, a letter in her hand. "Good afternoon Mrs. Thistle."

The teacher hardly acknowledged her, instead trying to open the letter with her weak, bony fingers. I groaned. This was going to take forever!

"Oh just give me the stupid thing!" I ripped the letter from her grasp. I could see the whole school staring at me; no one was rude to Mrs. Thistle. "I mean, let me help you m'am."

She smiled gratefully. I rolled my eyes, ripping open the letter. I immediately saw my name on the letter. "Yes! Yes!" I continued reading. "I…tied with Adam."

"Yes! I half won!" Adam cheered, much to Calla, Leo, and Jessica's amusement. He hugged me, lifting me off the ground. Suddenly, there was a bright white flash.

"That is so going in the yearbook!" Jessica announced, holding the school camera. I glared at Adam.

"Put me down!" I ordered. The bumbling ape released me. The bell rang and he ran to grab his things and go home. I turned to Mrs. Thistle. "There must be some mistake! I demand a recount! Please!"

"No, Chase, she's not going to make it through another count." Calla told me, gently pulling me away from the eighty-year old.

"But-but-but." I stuttered. I did NOT just TIE with ADAM. I couldn't have.

"Relax. Chase. Chase, calm down." She said, looking me in the eyes. I guess I must have been freaking out. Luckily, everyone else had left for the day, leaving the two of us alone in the lobby.

"But-" she cut me off.

"Whenever there's a tie for this kind of thing, each student submits an essay. And who ever had the better essay, wins. Okay? You could still win this."

"I can…I can!" I realized as her words hit me. "Adam is so going down!"

**Xxx**

"I can't believe we tied." I complained to Adam and Calla as we walked into the lab. The latter shrugged as if she couldn't care less, and sat down at her desk to work.

"Just write your stupid essays already boys. I honestly can't wit for this whole thing to be over." She commented. Leo smiled at us as we walked into the lab.

"Bree's over at Ethan's." he explained when I noticed Bree's absence. I nodded, turning back to Adam.

"When everyone at school reads my essay, I'm going to Student of the Semester." He announced. I crossed my arms.

"Oh, really? Let me see that." I grabbed his book, then frowned at pictures. "This is just a bunch of really badly drawn rocket ships."

"Yeah, next page." Adam replied. I flipped it over to see a tiny headed guy with a big mouth.

"Who's this supposed to be?" I asked. Adam grinned.

"You, next page." He answered. I rolled my eyes, then turned the page. This one had a single sentence on it.

"I, Adam Davenport, should be Student of the Semester." I read aloud. "That's it?"

"What? It's sharp and to the point." Adam seemed honestly confused as to why I didn't like it. "It took me twenty-five minutes."

"You know what? I'm not even worried." I announced. "Because the winner's going to be the one who can write the best essay and we all know that's me."

"You think you're so smart!" Adam shouted. "Well you might be a better writer, but I'm a better…" he trailed off, not sure of what to say. I grinned.

"That's right! You've got nothing!" I replied. Adam gritted his teeth.

"No! I've got this!" His eyes turned red and I pulled out my force field just in time to reflect the laser at the ceiling.

"Oh, you think you're so cool because you have lasers. Well guess what, I can fight back too." I snapped, shrinking my force field. I shot the tiny ball of plasma energy at my brother, sending him flying through the air. He crashed into the consol, falling in behind it. "Bull's-eye."

Adam stood up, then came running at me. He tackled me to the ground. Leo looked at us with a shocked expression.

"Should we do something?" he asked Calla. She reached under her desk and pulled out a small first aid kit before going back to her work.

"I mean, other than that?" Leo retorted. She shook her head.

"Nope. They're bionic brothers, it's how they roll." She replied as Adam sent me flying over their heads. "Or fly." She amended. Adam jumped on top of me, successfully pinning me to the lab ground.

"Ha! I can still pin you in less than three seconds!" Adam cheered. Calla sighed and stood up.

"Okay, Adam, go upstairs. Leo follow him." She ordered. They both listened to her out of instinct. I jumped to my feet, brushing off my shirt.

"I'm good." I assured her. She raised an eyebrow at me. "I hate how he always plays the physical card!" I complained.

"Maybe he does that because you always play the intelligence card?" she suggested. I rolled my eyes.

"This contest was my thing and he's trying to show me up." I continued.

"He's not trying to show you up, he did show you up." She retorted. I looked at her. "And that's a good thing."

"Oh really? How?" I demanded.

"Because your ego needed a serious reality check." She replied. "Chase, no one's perfect at everything. But you are a total perfectionist."

She stood up from her desk, grabbing her laptop. "Adam's not usually good in school, we all know that. But you wouldn't have a single vote if it hadn't been for his ideas. And what's worse is that instead of giving him credit, you made him feel stupid. That's how you always make him feel."

**Xxx**

Adam and I were waiting outside the principal's office, waiting to hear the results of the contest. I didn't really need to wait; I already knew who was going to win. But I still stood there, next to my brother as he teased me.

"Hey, prepare yourself for the bitter taste of defeat, which I am going to spoon feed you in delightful bite sized portions every single time I see you." He told me. I smiled.

"Let's just see what happens." I replied. Suddenly, the announcement came on over the intercom.

"And the Student of the Semester is…Adam Davenport." Principal Perry announced. Adam jumped for joy.

"Whoo-hoo! I won!" he cheered before grabbing me in a headlock and pretending to feed me with a spoon. "Eat it! Eat the defeat!" When I didn't reply, he seemed frustrated. "Open your mouth."

"Okay Adam, that's enough." I finally said. He let go of me as Jaden and Jessica came over to congratulate him.

"Hey Chase. Mind if I ask you a question?" Calla asked, walking over to me. I shrugged.

"What's up?" I replied.

"Something's not right with Adam's essay and I was wondering if you had anything to do with it." She held up the paper and read it aloud. "I, Adam Davenport, should be Student of the Semester because I'm tall, I'm happy, and I will let you have dogs in the library."

"I see nothing wrong with that." I told her. I thought I did a pretty good job of faking that letter. What could possibly have tipped her off?

"Adam would have misspelled library." She commented. "Hell, he would have misspelled dogs." She looked at me sternly. "What did you do?"

"Okay, fine. I wrote it, put his name on it, and tanked my own essay." I admitted. She smiled. "He had good ideas and deserved to win. So I got one A-, I guess I can't be perfect at everything"

"Chase, that's not true." Calla told me. I smiled at her. "You're not perfect at a lot of things."

"Thanks." I said dryly. She smiled.

"But you are a pretty good brother, that's for sure." She smiled before walking over to congratulate Adam. Then she headed off with Jessica, talking about some upcoming party. I tapped Adam's shoulder.

"Hey Adam." My brother turned to face me. "Nice job, the best man won. And it was wrong of me to make you feel like you weren't smart enough to win."

"Yes, it was. It was very scrumptious of you." He replied. I frowned.

"Don't you mean presumptuous?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, that too." He put an arm around me as Leo came driving in one the High School Party Bus.

"All aboard!" Leo yelled. Adam, Jessica, Calla, and I got on, laughing.


	9. Drone Alone

**Calla's POV**

"Hey people! I'm home!" I joked, skipping in the front door of the Davenport's house. I dropped my overnight bag on the floor by the door.

"Hey Cal." Chase greeted, before going back to his graphing thingy-majig. Bree and Adam looked up from their phone and TV program enough to acknowledge me. Leo wasn't even in the room.

"Wow, real enthusiastic." I commented, leaning against the arm of the couch so I could look over Chase's shoulder. It took me a few seconds to realize what he was doing. "You know, I'm not sure this is going to convince Mr. Davenport that leaving us all here in his very expensive house alone is a very good idea."

"But-" Chase was but off as my boss and his wife started walking down the stairs.

"Oh, this is so exciting." Tasha squealed. "I have never been to Australia before."

"Maybe you'll like it so much you won't want to come back." Eddie suggested. Tasha gave him a look, then turned to me.

"Calla, you're sure your parents have no problem with you spending the weekend here?" she asked as Leo came into the room. I nodded.

"Yeah, they're not even going to be in town anyway, so it's better than me sitting in a hotel room all day." I replied. Leo frowned.

"Okay, one, you're really spending the weekend? And two, why aren't they going to be in town?" he asked.

"Mission Creek made it to the National Minor's league in football and Jaden's playing. The tournament's all the way in Bakerville, so they agreed I could stay here. And I came over to keep you from destroying everything in sight." I told him. He looked offended.

"I'm not that destructive!" he objected. I waved my hand dismissively.

"Sure, what ever you said Mini-man." I replied. Tasha smiled at us, then turned to Mr. Davenport.

"Donald, honey, do you have the plane tickets?" she asked. Mr. Davenport laughed.

"Honey, we're taking my fully automated private jet." He informed her. "Plane tickets. Why don't we just slap on a bunch of stamps and just mail ourselves there?"

She smiled. "Private jet, that works." She turned to Leo, smiling giddily. "Score!" she whispered to her son. Mr. Davenport looked at Leo.

"Okay Leo, this is your chance to prove that you're responsible enough to stay home without us." He told him. Leo frowned.

"Me? What about them?" he asked, nodding to our bionic besties. Mr. Davenport chuckled in amusement.

"They were designed to go on missions and save the world." The three of them were doing absolutely nothing of any significance, so his point wasn't exactly proven. Never the less, Mr. Davenport looked back at his step-son. "You were designed to break stuff."

"What about her?" Leo demanded, pointing at me. I smiled.

"I was designed to make popcorn and watch the tragedy unfold." I replied. He glared at me, to which I responded with an innocent 'you know you love me' smile.

"Don't worry, I know the rules." Leo assured Mr. Davenport. "No touchy-touchy your stuffy-stuffy."

"Leo, I'm serious. There's millions of dollars worth of technology here, so no goof ups, no explosions, no fires…you know what? I'm not going. I'm not going." I groaned. This was the eighth time he had changed his mind since yesterday afternoon.

"Donald!" Tasha called, amused. "Leo will be responsible, he is a big boy." She turned to said 'big boy'. "Sweetie, I left your flame retardant undies on the dresser." She informed him, making the rest of us laugh quietly.

We spent another ten minutes trying to convince the inventor that nothing would go wrong. After making sure we knew where we could get easy access to an inflatable raft, he finally left with Tasha…and Eddie, but I don't think they knew about that last part. The second the adults left, Adam, Bree, and Chase jumped to their feet.

"Whoo! Party in the lab!" Adam cheered. Leo and I stared at the three of them as they started to plan our fun-filled weekend.

"Did you not hear what Davenport just said? We're supposed to be responsible." Adam nodded.

"Okay. I'll be responsible for the snacks. Leo and Calla, you're responsible for blowing up that raft! Whoo-hoo! Party in the lab!" they ran down stairs, dancing and hollering. Leo and I exchanged looks.

"And he's worried about me?" Leo questioned. I shrugged and looked at the elevator door.

"I really hope Adam wasn't paying attention when Mr. Davenport told us where the life raft was.

"We should go check on what they're doing, shouldn't we?" Leo asked me. I bit my lip.

"Well, we're talking about three rebellious, super powered teenagers who are being left alone for the first time in their very boring life." I said slowly. "I don't know about you, but I'm afraid to see what they're up too."

"It's either that, or watch infomercials until something decent comes on TV." Leo informed me. I sighed and headed towards the elevator. He followed me.

We found the three of them sitting around the lab. Chase was on Mr. Davenport's private computer (the one he won't let even me touch), Bree was pacing with a magazine while staling snacks off the counter, and Adam was doing something with random foods and a chart.

"Australia looks interesting." Bree was saying as we walked into ear shot. "But I'd really like to check out New York."

"That makes two of us." I told her, sitting down at my desk. Chase gave me a knowing smile.

"Where would you go first?" he asked. "The 600th floor of the Empire State Building or Long Island?"

I laughed. "Long Island. I would love to check out the Athena cabin." I replied.

Bree ignored our random geek moment. "Seriously though, it looks awesome."

"Yeah well, maybe someday when we're older…" there was a strong breeze and when we looked up, she was gone. "Or now."

"Dude! Take me with you!" I called into the air.

"She's not there." Adam told me.

"I know that!" I snapped. Then I frowned.

"Uh, Leo? You want to take this one, or should I?" I nodded to the bowls of food. Leo sighed.

"Adam, what are you doing?" he asked. Adam grinned.

"I am combining foods." He replied happily. "You see, butterscotch pudding and tomatoes is probably a no, but being home alone and doing what ever I want is a HUGE yes, so I'm going to do it anyway!" he dipped the tomato in the pudding.

"Adam, st-" I slapped my hand over Leo's mouth.

"Don't stop him now! This is the closest he's ever been to science!" I hissed. Leo rolled his eyes as Adam gagged on his butterscotch covered tomato.

"Oh god, that's bad." Adam spit the rest into a napkin. At least he had the sense to do that. Leo nodded at the brainier of the two brothers.

"Fine, I won't say anything. But it's your turn." He told me. I nodded and put my arms on the back of Chase's chair.

"Chase?" I asked. "What are you up to?"

He grinned evilly, which was not a good look on him. It looked kinda creepy. "I'm pulling a prank on him. The next time he checks his bank account, it's going to be in euros. Bam!" he exclaimed. "Same value, but still funny."

"I need to teach you about pranks." I decided. Leo shook his head at me.

"Don't you dare!" he ordered, pulling Chase away from the computer. The bionic boy was so into his 'prank' that he gripped the keyboard as hard as he could, refusing to let go. Suddenly, Bree was back in the room, wearing the…boldest outfit I'd ever seen.

"Oh…my…gosh." I stared at it in horror. What monster had forced her to wear that?

"You won't believe what just happened to me!" Bree complained in a loud, and obnoxious accent. "I was headed to New York City, but I got stuck in Jersey! Oh, check out my bling." Bree showed us a pair of large, silver earrings. "Boom! How do you like them sparklers?"

"Please tell me that's a rhetorical question." I begged, unable to think of one thing nice to say. In case you couldn't tell, I wasn't a fan of her outfit.

"Bree, look what you did! You got butterscotch pudding all over my broccoli." Adam complained. He took a bite, then gasped in awe. "What a delicious mistake!" he exclaimed in delight.

"Aww, I'm sorry Adam," Bree apologized "I meant to get it on your face."

She took a scoop of butterscotch and threw it at Adam. He ducked out of the way, causing the pudding to splatter all over Chase's face. "Boom! I'm throwing pudding here!" Bree laughed. Chase glared at her.

"Oh! Butterscotch pudding and Chase! I never thought of that!" Adam grinned. I stepped in between the three of them, deciding to stop things before Chase ended up as snack food.

"That's enough guys." I said calmly. Leo nodded.

"Yeah! I really need this weekend to go well for me." Leo told them. Chase rolled his eyes and grabbed a bowl of vanilla cupcakes from the counter.

"Chillax Leo. What's the big deal? We're just having a little fun." he asked. Leo looked at him.

"I'm not!" Leo protested. "If Davenport trusts me to stay home alone, then next he'll give me a project in the lab. And then he'll let me go on a mission with you. Don't you want me to go one missions with you?"

"Meh." "I guess." "Not so much." "As long as you're not here bugging me." We all replied. Leo crossed his arms.

"Okay, that's it. No more crazy foods, no pranking Davenport, and no more breaking your curfew to go to New York." Leo said. Bree sighed audibly.

"Jersey!" she corrected. "Whatever. This guy, what a nudge."

Leo sighed. "Just get in your capsules and go to sleep." Leo ushered them towards the display cases. "I'll turn on a night light for you."

"Night guys!" I called, heading towards the elevator.

"Night Calla!" they replied before shutting the doors. I headed upstairs, dumped my bags in the guest room, and went to grab a snack from the kitchen. Leo walked in a second later.

"Uh, you know they don't need a night light…well, Bree and Chase don't." I told him, yawning. Leo frowned.

"Then how come there was one down there?" he questioned. I shrugged.

"I didn't even notice one down there. Maybe Adam brought it down 'cause he got scared, or Chase might have decided it was a good idea after last week's blackout." The entire city had been pitch black for about three hours right after dinner. The six of us (Adam, Bree, Chase, Jaden, Leo and I) had ended up playing Monopoly in front of my fireplace for the rest of the night.

"Yeah, maybe." Leo agreed. He grabbed a glass of milk and headed off to bed. I did the same, but ended up playing Angry Pigeons on my phone for a couple of hours before I fell asleep.

Just as I was drifting off, something weird happened. The guest room had an alarm clock by the bed, and I remembered it's lights flashing several times, then it shut off completely. I thought it was odd, but was too tired to care.

**Xxx**

"Morning Leo. Want some pancakes?" I asked as the younger boy entered the kitchen. It was already eight, but apparently we were the only two up.

"Sure. Where's Adam, Bree, and Chase?" Leo asked tiredly, sitting down at the kitchen counter. I shrugged.

"Still asleep is my guess." I replied, handing him a plate, then grabbing one for myself. Leo frowned.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "Because Chase is always up by six-thirty, weekend or not, and Bree's usually watching Teen Wolf at around seven thirty. As for Adam…well, we have to drag him out of his capsule some days. Actually, make that everyday."

"They could be messing around in the lab again." I suggested. Leo nodded.

"Wanna go find out?" Leo asked, abandoning the pancakes. I nodded and followed him to the elevator. Leo opened the door to the lab. "Good morn-ahh!"

Now, I expected for the lab to be a mess. But by mess, I meant a few bags of chips and popcorn on the floor, maybe some papers out of place. I certainly wasn't expecting to see Adam blindfolded in an inflatable raft, my work papers everywhere, several chairs flipped, the counter moved, Chase panicking in a corner, and Bree no where to be found.

"What happened?" I demanded, a little shocked.

"Leo? Calla? Is that you?" Chase called out, panic in his voice. He was standing at the back of the lab, tensed, and facing the wall. Leo looked around in horror.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" he screamed. "ALL WE DID WAS GO TO SLEEP!"

"Something happened to my vision." Chase turned and faced another wall, this one a little closer to us. "I can only see pixels."

I frowned. "Are you serious?" I asked, stepping over to him. He nodded, still facing a wall.

"Yeah. I can't see anyth-ughh!" Chase groaned, tripping over a fallen chair. "I'm okay."

I took his hand gently and pulled him to his feet. "Stay." I ordered. We didn't need him tripping over anything else. Leo walked over to Adam.

"Buddy, up what's?" he asked. Leo and I looked at each other.

"He sounds different?" Leo said after a moment. Chase nodded.

"Yeah, that's because he can only speak backwards. It was fun for the first five minutes. Now I just wanna rip his head off." I smirked.

"Let's not do that. Or at least wait until we can fix your vision." I told him. "Um, where's Bree?"

"If you say she went to Paris for crepes, I'm going to lose it." Leo snapped.

"No idea." Chase replied, grabbing my arms. He looked at me, or to my left, desperately. I could tell he was seriously freaked out by what was going on, but at least he was freaking out.

"Okay, what happened?" I asked gently.

"Something woke us up in the middle of the night, she started bouncing around the room like a pinball, and I haven't seen her since. I haven't seen anything since." Chase explained. I looked at Leo.

"Call her, and get her back here. Now. We need to get this figured out." Leo nodded, walking over to the consol.

"Call Bree." He ordered. It did as he requested, bringing up a live feed of the bionic girl. She looked like she was in a dessert, with a palm tree…and a dinosaur. Leo stared at the dinosaur. I walked over to the screen to get a better look at it.

"Please tell me you didn't go back in time." He begged. I rolled my eyes.

"No! I just woke up and started running!" Bree explained. "The next thing I knew, I was in the middle of the desert, my feet were smoking, and my navigation system was all goofed up." She was distracted for a moment. "Crap! Guys, my battery's about to die! What do I do?" She asked as the screen went black.

"Bree! Bree!" Leo desperately tried to get the feed back up.

"Oh uh." Adam said worriedly.

"Guys? A little help here please." Chase begged. When I'd seen the dino, I'd left him standing there all alone and he'd wandered off. I felt a pang of guilt as I ran over to help him. I led him back over to the counter. I made sure he had a hand on it, so he had some sense of where he was.

"Here you go." I told him. Adam grinned, and kicked his brother to the ground.

"Really?" I looked at him. He grinned happily. "Did you have to do that?"

"Did I yes." He replied. I rolled my eyes and helped the brainier boy up again. Suddenly, a loud, piercing alarm went off.

"What's that?" Leo asked. I thought about it.

"Well, it's either Mr. Davenport's radon gas alarm, or his emergency telephone." Chase said calmly. I nodded.

"And being that none of us have passed out yet, I'm going to go with the telephone." I walked over to the telephone and picked it up.

"Davenport Industries, home of the little man's big dreams, Calla speaking. How may I help you?" I answered professionally. Mr. Davenport sighed on the other line, apparently satisfied that Leo hadn't killed us all yet. Yet.

"Calla, what's going on?" he asked.

"Not a thing, just watching some cartoons, having pancakes. You know, Saturday morning things." I lied. Adam gasped.

"Cartoons watch wanna I!" he exclaimed.

"Was that Adam? Can I speak to him?" Mr. Davenport asked as Chase clamped his hand over Adam's mouth.

"No, that's…a cartoon, called Captain Backwards. Horrible show, but Leo likes it. As for Adam, he's sleeping."

"What about Leo? He hasn't spontaneously combusted yet, has he?" I looked at Leo.

"He wants to talk to you." I handed him the phone. He listened for a second.

"No! I did not set any fires! Geez!" he sighed. A few more seconds later. "Umm, Bree? She's not around…you know girls. She's knee deep in rainbows and makeup." We all looked at him.

"Don't judge me." He hissed at us before turning back to the phone. He looked at Chase. "Uh, he's working on homework and doesn't want to be disturbed."

Leo frowned, listening, and then walked over to the consol. He stopped near the LEMP and I gasped. Nightlight. I figured out exactly what happened and of course, it was all Leo's fault.

"Do you mean the nightlight?" he asked. I face palmed.

"Nightlight?" Chase repeated, confused.

"He's talking about the LEMP. He must have turned it on last night, thinking it was a nightlight, and it fried your systems. It's basically a giant glitch machine. Makes me wonder why Davenport built it in the first place." I explained. Chase sighed.

"Wonderful." He muttered sarcastically as Leo unplugged the machine.

"No, no I did not." Liar! "Umm, I should go. Tell my mommy I love her."

I rolled my eyes and smirked at that last bit while Leo glared at me. Suddenly, I could hear Tasha yelling into the phone. I could hear her exact words from across the room.

"LEO! WE'RE COMING HOME RIGHT NOW!" She yelled. I crossed my arms as Leo hung up the phone.

"They're coming home right now." He told us, as if we couldn't hear his mom yelling.

"What?" Adam gasped.

"Tell my mommy I love her?" Chase repeated, annoyed.

"You might as well have said 'Hey, I'm a massive idiot and your lab is destroyed.'" I agreed. Leo glared at the two of us.

"I'm sorry. When I freak out, I talk baby talk." Leo snapped. "Now, if you excuse me, I'm going to go upstairs to take a night-night with my binky."

Leo started to walk upstairs, but I caught him by the collar. "Oh no you don't. This is your fault, so you can help clean up this mess."

"But-" Leo started to protest, but stopped when I glared at him. "Fine."

"Okay, first things first, we need to figure out how to get Bree back here." I said aloud. Chase grinned, an idea coming to him.

"Why don't I locate Bree's chip signal and send her the coordinates, so she can find her way back?" he suggested, bending over the consol. I walked over.

"I can do that." I offered. Chase glared over my shoulder. "Hey, don't give me that look. Your vision is still impaired!"

"Calla, Calla, Calla." Chase sighed. "Genius knows no limits."

"Well, I'm glad to see that your lack of sight hasn't taken away from your sense of superiority." I commented dryly as he input some numbers. The screen behind us flashed the words SIGNAL RECEIVED.

"Okay, she got them." Leo announced. "But what about them?"

"Um…" I trailed off, unsure of what to do next. "Oh! Chase, didn't Davenport give you a video clip for emergencies? Play it!"

"But we're only supposed to watch it in case of emergency." Chase objected. Adam groaned and pushed his brother over to the USB finger port.

"Doofus, up wake! Emergency an is this!" he snapped. A video of Davenport appeared on the screen behind us. It began with a long sob-fest for Davenport's death, because that's the only reason he's expect us to use it. Typical.

"Fast forward. Please." Leo requested. Chase started scrolling through the chapters. The titles appeared one after another on the screen. I read them aloud so Chase would know where to stop.

"Bionic Malfunctions. Bionic Maintenance. Somebody didn't listen and turned on the LEMP. Stop there." I told him. Leo frowned.

"Well, that's oddly specific." I smirked.

"Not really. If this had nothing on it, I was going to go through the six hour video called 'Solutions to Leo's Screw Ups.'" Leo looked at me.

"He doesn't really have a video like that." He said uncertainty.

"Yes, he does." "I suggested it." "Funny of kind it's." we all replied. Leo rolled his eyes as Chase played the video.

"Get into the Chase's capsule with bare feet and place your hands against the sides of the cylinder." Mr. Davenport instructed. "This connects a circuit, imitates a reboot, and will repair all the damage."

"Okay, once we restore my settings, we can get things back to normal before Tasha and Mr. Davenport get home. And they'll never know how thoroughly and completely you messed up." Chase pointed to the empty corner. We frowned and looked where he was pointing. I took his hand and redirected it Leo's way.

"He's over there." I said gently. Chase rolled his eyes and sighed in frustration.

"Somebody just show me where my stupid capsule is!" he demanded, kicking off his shoes. Adam grinned, and roughly pushed his brother into the capsule and slammed the door. I looked at Leo.

"Crap! What if the LEMP fried the capsule's settings too? We could be doing more damage than harm!" I gasped. It was too late to do anything though, as the capsule was already glowing with power. Chase stumbled out.

"So?" Leo asked expectantly. Chase looked at us.

"Where am I?" he questioned. "Who are you people?"

"Great!" Leo was frustrated. Chase smirked.

"Just kidding. Your turn." He said to Adam, walking over to me.

"Luck me wish." Adam said as Leo pushed him into the capsule. I elbowed Chase in the ribs as his brother went for the reboot.

"That wasn't funny." I muttered under my breath. Chase chuckled.

"It was and you know it." He replied. I rolled my eyes, smiling at Adam as he came out.

"Whoo! I think I'm okay." A horrified expression crossed Adam's face. "Wait, my voice isn't coming out of my but, is it?"

"And he's back." Chase decided. Leo and I nodded our agreement.

**Xxx**

Three hours and several garbage bags later, the house was perfectly clean. In fact, I think it might have been cleaner than before Mr. Davenport and Tasha left. Chase was sitting on the couch, checking on Bree's location.

"Okay, everything's cleaned up. Now all we need is Bree." Leo announced.

"No problem. I'm tracking her right now and according to this she should be here in three…two…one…"

Super girl blew in the room, the door hanging open behind her. "Zero." Chase finished.

"That took forever!" Bree complained. "My phone died and I had to buy a map! A PAPER MAP! I mean, do you have any idea how hard it is to fold this thing up?"

"Why did you buy a map? Didn't you get the coordinates I sent you?" Chase asked, as confused as I was. Bree frowned.

"What coordinates?" she asked, answering his question. I looked at Chase's screen. There was a green dot still moving towards us on it.

"Hey, what are you tracking, if it's not Bree?" I asked curiously. Chase shrugged.

"Probably just a bird." He guessed. There was a loud rocket sound behind us as a miniature plane (about the size of a kitchen table) flew into the house. It crashed into the window and Chase pulled me down onto the ground to avoid being hit. Adam, Bree, and Leo were ducking behind the couch along with us. We all stared at it in shock, then ran over to see what it was.

"Holy crap!" I exclaimed, recognizing it at once. "It's one of Mr. Davenport's drones."

"I must have sent it the coordinates instead of Bree!" Chase realized. Leo turned to him.

"Yes, because it looks exactly like a teenage girl. I can see how you made such an easy mistake." He yelled. Chase glared at him.

"I made a mistake because my vision was impaired. By you! Mr. Touchy-stuffy-mommy-misser!" Chase snapped back.

"Okay, stop it!" I shouted. "Arguing won't solve anything. Plus, we have a major problem! The drone controls ALL of Mr. Davenport's GPS technology, including his plane!"

"Why would he keep the command center for all of his technology flying around in the sky?" Leo demanded.

"To keep it away from you?" Chase suggested. I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, Chase, you and I can fix this thing. Adam and Bree, you deal with the broken window. Leo, you be lookout." I knelt down next to the machine. While Chase was doing the technological work, such as rebooting the machine, I stared on the exterior repairs. About twenty minutes later, it was good to go.

"Adam!" I called. The oldest boy in the room ran over. "You take this outside and get it airborne ASAP."

"Yes m'am." He ran to the roof, carrying the large ship. Leo came running into the living room.

"They're back!" he yelled. I looked at him, Bree and Chase

"Act natural!" I ordered. So of course, we did the most unnatural poses our panicking minds could think of. Mr. Davenport and Tasha walked in.

"You are on the list cupcake!" Eddie announced, appearing on the wall. I frowned.

"What's that about?" I asked curiously.

"Never mind about that." Mr. Davenport told me. He looked around, confused as to why his house wasn't on fire or flooded. "Hey, what do you know? The house is in one piece." He seemed genuinely surprised.

Leo walked forward to give his mom a hug. "Welcome home mommy." He greeted. Tasha gave him a look.

"Okay…what are you guys up to?" she asked. We all exchanged looks.

"Up to? What do you mean? We're not up to anything!" Bree was a horrible liar. Mr. Davenport looked around again, and noticed something wrong.

"Where's Adam?" he demanded. Suddenly, a voice from behind us made us start.

"Just warming up your welcome back hugs. Bring it in peoples." Adam announced, grinning like a fool. He hugged them both quickly. Both adults looked at us suspiciously.

"Well…I guess we overreacted." Mr. Davenport said slowly. Suddenly, there was a loud beeping noise.

"What is that?" Tasha asked. We all ducked for the second time as the drone crashed through the window behind us.

"By the way, you forgot to reset the coordinates." Adam told Chase and I. Mr. Davenport looked at us.

"Excuse me?" he demanded.

Chase and I looked at each other, then pointed accusingly at Leo. "It's his fault!" we yelled in unison. Mr. Davenport looked at Leo.

"It looks like somebody touched my stuff!" he yelled.

Leo's reaction? "Mommy."


	10. Concert in a Can

**Calla's POV**

"Morning Cal." Chase greeted as I tiredly stumbled into the school. I gave him an exhausted glare before slumping down on the bench besides him, Adam, and some kid I'd never seen before. I then stole Chase's backpack and started to use it as a pillow.

"Hi." I mumbled into it tiredly.

"Long night?" Chase guessed sympathetically.

"Jaden. Party. 5 AM." I explained. My older brother had had a really big party for his eighteenth birthday the night before and the last of the guests, Trent and the other football players, had only left a few hours ago. Needless to say, I was unable to get any sleep because of the constantly blasting music. And when I don't get my sleep, I'm not even close to being a ball of sunshine.

"Oh by the way Marcus, sleeping beauty here is our friend Calla. Calla, this is Marcus." I looked up and saw a boy our age with short brown hair. He smiled and offered me his hand. I sat up and shook it.

"Nice to meet you. I'm new." He explained. I wrinkled my nose.

"Yeah, I can tell. You still have that new guy smell." I joked. Then I saw his guitar, a beautiful red masterpiece sitting in his lap. "Wicked guitar." I commented.

"Thanks, do you play?" Marcus asked curiously. I shook my head.

"I played acoustic until I was twelve, but then we moved here and no one was giving lessons." I replied. Marcus turned to Chase.

"What about you?" he asked. Chase looked a little surprised.

"Uh, no. But I'd love to try." Marcus offered Chase the guitar. Chase got up, studied the guitar for a moment, and then began to play this really complicated guitar solo. He was WAY too good for a newbie. He must have used his bionics to learn how to play.

The entire hallway burst into applause as Chase finished. Marcus looked amazed.

"Bro, you're a natural." He said, stunned. Chase grinned sheepishly and handed back the guitar.

"It was beginner's luck." He replied modestly. Marcus didn't look like he believed him, but before he could say anything, Leo walked over to us.

"Hey guys. Where's Bree?" he asked. I nodded over to the bulletin board.

"Signing Mr. Davenport and my mom up for parent day." I replied, yawning. Marcus smiled and held out a fist.

"Hey, the name's Marcus." He greeted. Leo frowned, but fist bumped Marcus.

"Yeah, I know. We have English together. And Math. And Chemistry." Marcus looked confused, as if he didn't remember any of that. "We're lab partners."

"Oh, I did not know that." Marcus replied, still seeming confused.

"So Marcus, what brings you to Mission Creek?" I asked, curious.

"My dad's job actually." Marcus replied.

"Cool, what's he do?" I asked. Marcus shrugged.

"It's complicated." He replied. I frowned, not sure what to make of that.

"Our dad's an inventor." Adam told him. Marcus looked at him.

"Really, is he famous?" he questioned. Leo frowned.

"Why does that matter?" he demanded. Marcus shrugged.

"Just curious." He mumbled. I looked at Leo.

"Leo, I thought we were working on your people skills." I told him sternly. Even I wasn't that rude to the new kid. And I'd only gotten two hours of sleep!

"Well, have you ever heard of Donald Davenport?" Chase questioned. Marcus stared at him.

"Heard of him? He's like the greatest inventor alive today!" he exclaimed. Chase smiled.

"Yeah, he's our dad. Oh, and Calla's his personal assistant." Marcus turned to me, his eyes glowing like a kid on Christmas.

"Ah man, it must be so cool to work for him." He told me. I shrugged.

"Weird is a better word. That dude is a total man-child." I replied. We all laughed, then compared Marcus' schedule to our own to see what classes we had with him. It looked as if Marcus was going to be one of our newest friends.

**xxx**

"Well, I was homeschooled for most of my life." Marcus told me after I asked what school he had gone to. We were sitting in the cafeteria, eating today's special: Chinese food.

"No way! We have so much in common!" Adam laughed. "Do you have a third nipple too?"

Marcus and I stared at him.

"Anyway, that's a pretty sick guitar Marcus." Chase grinned. Marcus smiled.

"Yeah, and you're a natural bro." Chase got an arrogant, I'm-the-best-at-everything smirk on his face. Then, a light bulb went off above Marcus' head. "Guys, we should start a band!"

"Oh that's a great idea!" Adam exclaimed. He started tapping excitedly on the table with the chopsticks. "But what would I play? Oh, I got it!" he drummed a little bit more, then raised his hands. But he lost the idea before he could say it aloud.

"I think you're going to be our drummer, Adam." Marcus said. Adam nodded thoughtfully.

"Interesting choice. I had been pondering the French horn." I stared at him.

"Did you just use 'pondering' in a proper sentence?" I asked, surprised. He nodded proudly. "Way to go Adam! High five!"

"What about you Calla?" Chase asked as his brother high-fived me. I shook my head.

"Too busy with work. Sorry." I replied as Leo walked over carrying his tray.

"Hey Leo, guess what? Marcus, Adam and I are forming a band." Chase told him. I figured he would have looked excited, but he looked quiet bothered by the idea.

"Well, you guys just met, don't you think it's a bit soon?" he asked.

"A bit soon for what? Taking the deeply committed step of jamming together?" Chase looked at him.

"Now we just need to find some place to practice. I live in a pretty small apartment, so that's out of the question." Marcus said.

"Oh, I know a place. The lab!" Chase chocked on his Chinese food and Leo did a spit take.

"Adam!" I hissed. He caught on.

"Lab…radour retriever park." He corrected. Marcus stared at him. "Yeah, the dog park. Nice acoustics. Plus, they have dogs."

He turned to us. "Saved it." He sung quietly. I shook my head at his silliness.

"Marcus, we have a pretty big place. We can all just jam there." Chase offered. Leo looked upset.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold your horses cowboy." Leo said, grabbing Adam, Chase, and me by our arms and dragging us out of Marcus' ear shot. "Chase, what are you doing? Do you really think it's a good idea to let a total stranger into our very private home?"

"Leo…" Chase began, but I stopped him.

"Look, I know that Leo's being paranoid, but he's not completely wrong to say that. You should at least check in with Mr. Davenport before you offer that." I told him. Marcus got up from the table.

"It's fine guys." He told us. "We don't HAVE to jam. Not everyone needs a bright spot in their otherwise horrible life."

"Leo, look. You're making him feel bad." Chase scolded him before turning back to Marcus. "Of course we can Jam. I'll text you the address and you can come by later."

"Great, I'll see you guys after school." He grinned. Chase turned back to Leo.

"You guys a making a big mistake." Leo told him. "I mean, you've only been in the real world for a little while. There's still a lot of stuff you don't know." Chase stared at him, mildly offended.

"Look Leo, I'm not going to run my play dates past you. Hello," he gestured at himself "genius."

"What you have is book smarts. I have street smarts. And I've got to watch what's happening on the street."

Adam smiled. "Ah, silly Leo. Relax, we're not going to be playing in the street, we're going to be playing in the house." He replied. Suddenly, the bell rang for fifth period. Leo and I had a spare, while the two bionic brothers had English. Adam ran from the room.

"See you guys later!" Chase called as he left, carrying both his and Adam's bags. I turned to Leo, my arms crossed.

"Okay, spill. What's your problem?" I demanded. Leo shrugged.

"You know that feeling you get in your stomach when something's not right? Like when you just know you got something wrong on a test, or that you forgot something." I nodded.

"Yeah, it's called instinct." I replied. Leo nodded.

"Well, I'm getting that feeling around Marcus. He gives me the creeps." Leo told me. I frowned. This wasn't Leo being jealous, or paranoid. He was serious.

"Do you know why that is? Like maybe something he's said or done?" I asked. Leo shrugged.

"Not sure. It's just…he didn't really tell us much about himself, did he? Nothing about his family, except that he's here because of his dad's job. He never went to school before. He didn't even tell us where he lived before now." I thought about it.

"Point taken." I agreed. "What do you want to do about it?"

"Wait, you're taking me seriously?" Leo seemed shocked. I shrugged.

"More like I'm humouring you. So, what's the plan?" I asked. Leo smiled; glad that at least someone was on his side.

"Help me keep an eye on him? Please?" Leo begged. I sighed.

"Sure, why not?" I replied.

**Leo's POV**

Finally! Someone was on my side about Marcus! Or at least giving me a chance and that was close enough for me. When Marcus got our place later, Calla was down in the lab working though, so I was on my own. I ended up stalking Marcus for the majority of their jam session, asking him random questions.

"Where were you born?"

"When is your birthday?"

"Who's the president of Venezuela?"

Finally, Chase had had enough, but not before I confirmed that Marcus wasn't from Venezuela.

"Okay, this practice just became band members only." He declared. I smirked and crossed my arms.

"Well then, I guess I'm in the band." I declared. Chase snorted in amusement.

"Leo, you don't even know how to play an instrument." He reminded me. I smiled.

"That's where you're wrong." I went through all the instruments that we kept in the house, including the accordion, tambourine, washboard, and maracas. We had quite a few, a result of Big D wanting to be a musician in his spare time.

"Well? What do you think?" I asked, sure that at least one of the instruments had been played to their likings.

"Like I said, you don't even know how to play an instrument." Chase repeated. I glared at him as Marcus got up from the couch. He picked up a large cow bell and stick from besides the couch and held it out for me.

"It's alright. Guys, let's let him in. He can play this." He offered, smiling. I glanced at the instrument suspiciously, but it seemed harmless enough. I snapped it up quickly, and he backed away slowly.

"Thank you. I've never played the cow bell before." I frowned at the bell. "But let's give it a shot."

I tapped it once, trying not to mess it up. But it was hard to mess that up with only one hit. "I'm a natural!" I grinned.

They laughed as if I was joking, but let me join the band. We practiced for about a half hour. The whole time, Adam and Chase were trying to get me to be friendlier to Marcus, but he still gave me the creeps. Marcus on the other hand, was too focused on his music to care. It was like Jaden with girls or Calla with science. Impossible to distract them. But after a while, I decided to give him a chance.

I didn't even notice Big D walk in until he pulled the plug on the amplifier that Marcus had brought with him. "You know you have to play the notes in the right order, right?" he asked. Marcus gasped.

"You-you're Donald Davenport!" he gasped in awe.

"Guilty as charged." Big D grinned vainly.

"The genius, billionaire, scientific, entrepreneur?" Marcus confirmed. He was essentially feeding Big D's ego by the bucket full.

"Don't forget multi-linguist megastar." Mr. Davenport corrected an arrogant smirk on his face.

"Gracais." Marcus replied. Mr. Davenport smirked.

"Denada." He started to walk away, but Marcus followed him like a lost puppy.

"I would love to hear your theory on astro-gasification." He almost begged. Nerd-alert! Big D enjoyed the attention.

"Who wouldn't?" he asked. Then an idea dawned on him. "Hey, Bree and I were going to demo the Holo-Pet at Career Day, but since you guys have a band, maybe we could demo the Concert in a Can. That would be such a great surprise for her."

"Yeah. That's good, that's good, that's…what is that?" Marcus asked.

"It's a can that creates a virtual hologram of a concert experience." Big D explained. "It's something I designed for those of us who would be rock stars if we weren't busy being brilliant inventors."

Marcus made some cheesy, hero-worshipping comment and Big D left, a big grin on his face. Then a miracle happened. Adam had an idea.

"Oh! I've got an idea!" Adam exclaimed suddenly. "Why don't I go get Mr. Davenport's mega amp! Because everyone knows, bigger is better!"

"Yeah, totally!" Marcus grinned. Chase stood up, looking at Adam.

"Don't you want me to help you with it? It's super heavy and it's not like you have the strength of ten men." He said. Adam frowned.

"Yes I do…I mean, no. No I do not." He corrected, catching on. "I'm frail."

I face palmed as Chase pulled Adam out of the room. I grinned at Marcus. Maybe we COULD be friends.

"Ah Marcus. With you on guitar and me on the cowbell, nothing can stop us." I grinned. Marcus' smile faded and he pushed me out of the way and grabbed his guitar.

"What are you doing?" I asked, a little annoyed that he had pushed me like that. He looked at me, then smashed his guitar on the ground, destroying it. I stared at him in pure shock.

"Why would you smash your own guitar?" I demanded. Suddenly, voices came from behind us. Marcus pushed the broken guitar into my arms as Adam and Chase came running into the room.

"Leo, why would you break my guitar?" Marcus cried, pretending to be shocked, traumatized, and horrified. I stared at him.

"Oh, that's why." I said simply. I heard a faint ding, and Calla came running up from the hallway where the lab's second elevator was.  **(2)**

"Guys? What happened? I heard a crash all the way from…oh my god." She trailed off, seeing the guitar. Marcus started to cry.

"Leo…what is wrong with you? How could you just smash my guitar like that?" he demanded. Adam and Chase stared at me in shock. Calla frowned as if something seemed wrong to her.

"Leo!" Chase was shocked. "Why would you break his guitar?"

"I didn't!" I objected. "He did! He broke it and gave it to me. He's the breaker and I'm the breakee!"

"That doesn't make sense Leo. Why would Marcus break his own guitar?" Calla asked me, seeming more confused than angry, unlike my step-brothers.

"That's crazy Leo." Marcus snapped, grabbing back his guitar and examining it with fake tears in his eyes. Calla led him to the table so they could survey the damage.

"Look Leo, I would like to believe you, but you do break things. A LOT." Chase pointed out.

"Yes, but not this time." Adam put a hand on my shoulder.

"Leo, this reminds me of a story about a boy, named Wolf…who cried a lot…and then, his friends never believed him." Adam told me seriously. "And then, his grandmother ate him."

Chase and I stared at him. I looked back at the one with a brain. "You've got to believe me." I begged, hoping family meant something. Apparently, it did not.

"Sorry Leo." He replied. Calla got up from the table.

"Listen, Mr. Davenport has a room full of instruments. I'm certain that he has at least two guitars like Marcus'. Why don't you go borrow one and explain what happened to Mr. Davenport?" she suggested. I looked at her, thinking one word. Traitor. Chase looked at Calla.

"You want to yell at Leo for being an idiot, don't you?" he guessed. She smiled and shrugged.

"Perhaps." She replied. Chase smirked, and sent me a look that clearly read: good luck. Then he, Marcus, and Adam went down to Big D's instrument room. I plopped down on the couch and Calla sat next to me.

"You didn't break it, did you?" Calla asked in a knowing tone.

"No, I didn't." I replied. She nodded thoughtfully.

"Okay." She replied. "So how do we prove it?"

"You believe me?" I asked suspiciously. She nodded.

"Yeah, I guess I do. I can't remember when you last lied to me, and I can usually tell when you're lying anyway. Besides, when you break stuff, it usually catches fire."

"It happened once." I objected. She looked at me. "Okay, twice."

She crossed her arms. "Twice?" she repeated. I sighed, knowing that she wanted the exact amount.

"Okay, so maybe things spontaneously combusted sixteen or seventeen times." I admitted. She laughed.

"See, horrible liar." She said, giggling. "Now, let's go all CSI on this one."

**Xxx**

"You're seriously helping Leo?" I heard Chase ask Calla as I walked into the room. They were all getting ready for career day, and Calla's mom was due to be there any moment to pick her up.

"Yeah, something just seems off." She replied. Neither one had seen me, so I decided to just sit there, behind the kitchen counter, and eavesdrop. How could I not? There was a fifty dollar bet between me and Adam as to whether those two would end up dating before the New Year. And I wanted my money.

"Off?" Chase repeated.

"Uh-huh. Leo actually seems to be telling the truth. And I'm not too sure I like this Marcus guy." She replied.

"Okay, give me one good reason Marcus would break his guitar." Chase demanded. Before Calla could answer, the door bell rang. I heard the door open.

"Oh, hello Mrs. Parker." Hey Mom." I looked over the counter to see Calla's mom standing there in her police uniform.

"Hello Chase, it's good to see you again." Calla's mom smiled, then frowned. "Out of curiosity, why is your step-brother hiding behind the counter?"

"Leo?" Calla called. I sighed and stood up. She crossed her arms. "Dude! Eavesdropping is rude!"

"Thank you very much for ratting me out Mrs. Parker." I smiled at Calla's mom. She smirked.

"Sorry Leo." She apologized. "Time to go Calla."

"Yeah, I know." Said brunette sighed. "See you guys at the school."

"See you Calla!" "Bye Cal!" we waved goodbye. I looked at Chase.

"Okay, how do you know Calla's mom? I met her at Jaden's last game, but you rarely go to those." I asked, suspicious and hoping for evidence of them dating.

"Calla and I were studying at her place a month ago when Big D was fixing all the glitches with Eddie. You know, the ones that YOU caused on Halloween night?" He reminded me. I sighed.

"Look, I didn't mean too create Teddy! It was an accident!" I exclaimed.

"What was an accident?" Adam asked, walking in with a bowl of cereal.

"Teddy." I replied. He squealed and hid behind the couch.

"Where?" he was freaking out. "I thought we got rid of him!"

"We did Adam. He's gone." Chase assured him. I nodded, then reached for my bag and started naming the evidence I had against Marcus. They didn't believe me at all, and left. Then Eddy told me something very interesting. Very interesting indeed.

**Calla's POV**

I spotted Bree and Rebeccka immediately when I walked into the school. The three of us had reserved the tables at the back so we could hang while our parents were there. Rebeccka was on the far left, playing with her mom's stethoscope. Her mom was a nurse. And Bree was arguing with Mr. Davenport about him being late.

"'Sup ladies?" I asked, sitting down at my mom's booth. My mom smiled at Rebeccka and her mom.

"Hello Darcy, Rebeccka." She greeted.

"Hey Nicole." Mrs. Beehler said to my mom. "How's it going?"

I let the two adults chat while I spoke to Rebeccka. "Okay, you texted to me something about spying on someone." She said quietly. I nodded.

"Yeah, Marcus. You know, the new kid?" I asked. She nodded.

"Yeah, Jess thinks he's cute. Why do you need me to spy on him?" I shrugged.

"He creeps me out." I replied. She frowned.

"Are we talking get you info spying, keep an eye on him spying, or carefully watching his every move through a pair of binoculars spying?" she asked after a moment.

"Let's go with keep an eye on him. If I need info, I'll tell you. And I thought I told you that the only person we were going to watch through binoculars was Taylor Lautner."

"Why not Justin Timberlake?" Rebeccka whined. I crossed my arms.

"Because he got a restraining order against you." I reminded her. She glared at me. Apparently my mom heard that last bit of the conversation.

"Should I ask how that happened?" she asked. Rebeccka shook her head.

"Probably not." She replied. My mom laughed lightly.

"You're so crazy, Becky." She laughed. Rebeccka smiled proudly, then turned to me.

"You're mom likes me better than she does you." She told me, loud enough for the surrounding tables to hear.. There was a moment of silence.

"Mom, aren't you going to deny it?" I demanded. She was too stunned to reply.

"Hey, what are you guys talking about?" Bree asked, pulling her seat up next to Rebeccka and me.

"About how Calla's mom likes me better." By this point, my mom had just turned away laughing. Bree nodded.

"Well duh. She likes everyone better." Bree smirked. I buried my head in my arms.

"You guys suck." I muttered. They both laughed.

"So, Bree, how come you're chatting with us? Where's your dad?" Rebeccka asked. Bree shrugged.

"No idea. He said he was changing the presentation and then just disappeared." Bree said miserably. I looked at her.

"He being a sucky dad today?" I guessed. She nodded.

"Yeah, first he was late, then he changed everything, and then he went off on his own." She complained. I smiled at her sympathetically. I was about to say something to her, but a text from Chase interrupted me.

**From: Chase**

**Hey, are you coming to see the Concert in a Can demo?**

I looked up at Bree. "I think I know where Mr. Davenport is." I told her. I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into the gym, where the boys were waiting with their instruments. Mr. Davenport was standing there talking to them. Bree saw Mr. Davenport immediately. She ran over to talk to him while I headed over to the boys.

"New guitar?" I asked, gesturing to Marcus' blue instrument. He nodded.

"Yeah, Mr. Davenport gave it to me because Leo broke my old one." He replied. I nodded.

"Cool." I replied. Suddenly an announcement came on over the intercom.

" _For your career day entertainment, Concert in a can…can…can."_  It said loudly. I smirked at the large, black and silver can sitting on the ground.

"Good luck guys." I said. Chase smiled.

"Thanks." He replied just as the announcement continued.

" _Featuring Adam, Marcus and Chase…Chase…Chase..."_

I backed away from the boys as the can exploded, the holographic images changing the room's appearance.

" _Brought to you by Donald Davenport…port…port…"_  I nearly laughed at the botched echo affect of Mr. Davenport's name. But instead, I walked over to the table that Bree was sitting at, looking rather upset.

"They're not bad." She murmured sadly as her brothers and Marcus began to play. The entire crowd, slowly filling in from cafeteria, was captivated by their performance.

"You know, he's not trying to hurt you." I told her. "He's just oblivious to the fact that he's hurting you. Most boys won't care too much at your age, but he keeps forgetting that you actually have feelings. Not to mention, he just has more in common with Adam and Chase because of their gender."

"You think so?" Bree looked at me. I nodded.

"Oh, yeah. All dads are like that, and Davenport is no exception. Just tell him that he's accidently being a jerk, and he'll try to make up for it." I replied. Bree smirked slightly.

"Accidently being a jerk?" she repeated. I laughed. "Do you really think that will work?"

"Let's see." I replied. I searched the crowd, finally seeing Mr. Davenport by the stage. I took a deep breath, and yelled at the top of my lungs "DAVENPORT!"

He jumped slightly, and turned my way with a confused look. I pointed at Bree, crossed my arms, and gave him my famous batman-like glare. He walked over to talk to her, and I walked to the back of the gym. As good as the guys were, rock and roll often gave me headaches and the back was as far as I could get from the amplifiers and still support Adam and Chase.

A hand suddenly grabbed my shoulder and an IPad was shoved under my face. I looked at the boy who handed it to me in confusion. "Um, hi? What's up with the IPad Leo?"

"Check it out." Leo told me, tapping the screen. Eddy's face appeared.

"Ah man, you gave me to the nerd-girl!" he complained. I rolled my eyes.

"Shut up you Smartphone reject." I retorted. "Now show me whatever Leo wants you to show me."

"On it." Eddy sighed and a video clip appeared on screen. It was of Leo's house, with Marcus and Leo in the living room.

" _What are you doing?" Leo asked, looking at Marcus. He looked back at Leo, then smashed his guitar on the ground, destroying it. Leo was shocked._

" _Why would you smash your own guitar?" The smaller boy demanded. Adam and Chase started running into the room and Marcus pushed the broken guitar into Leo's hands._

" _Leo, why would you break my guitar?" Marcus fake cried._

I looked at Leo. "He really did break his guitar." I said, a little surprised. Although I knew that Leo didn't break it (or at least, not on purpose), I still hadn't thought that Marcus had.

"I told you!" Leo exclaimed. I looked back at the concert. For some reason, Adam, Chase, and Marcus were sitting on the side, but the music was still playing. But this time, it was horrible.

"What in the world?" I asked myself as I ran over to get a closer look. I couldn't help but smile at what I saw. Mr. Davenport and Bree rocking out on stage together. It was such a sweet, father-daughter moment, I took a photo on my phone to send the speedster.

"Um, Calla? The guitar?" Leo reminded me, taking back the IPad.

"Let's tell everyone after they're done." I replied. Leo nodded.

"Alright." He agreed. We waited patiently at the side of the gym for them to finish up. Most people left halfway through, partially because of the time, and partially because of Bree's playing. My mom got a call about a break in down on eighth street ten minutes in, and I agreed to be home by six.

"It's about time." Leo muttered as everyone started to put away the instruments. I sighed and followed him over to the group.

"Nice job Bree." I complimented. She grinned.

"You thought I played well?" she asked brightly. I shook my head.

"Hell no! But at least you don't have stage fright." I replied. She rolled her eyes and grabbed the locked guitar case. Marcus turned to Leo.

"Oh, sorry Leo." He fake-apologized. "All the guitars are in their cases, so you'll have to find something else to break. You know, 'cause you broke my guitar."

"Attention, attention!" Leo called. "I have proof that I did not break the guitar, thanks to our home security system." He held out the IPad for all to see and Eddy appeared on it.

"Hey!" he grinned. I looked at Marcus and I could see a panicked expression on his face. He looked at the IPad worriedly, then stepped forward.

"I have a confession to make." He started. Leo crossed his arms.

"No you don't." he snapped, still wanting to blow this case wide open.

"Leo, hush." I whispered. Although Marcus had lied, he still deserved the chance to apologize.

"I broke the guitar. I owe you all an apology." Marcus admitted. Everyone looked at him, a little surprised.

"What?" Chase asked. "Why would you break your own guitar?"

"Well, it was already broken, and if my dad found out I broke it, I would be in so much trouble because we're really poor, and I just wanted to fit in because you're all really smart and I'm stupid and my grandma just DIED!" he cried. We all stared at him. Wow…poor kid. We all exchanged uneasy looks, unsure of how to react.

"Marcus, it's okay." Bree soothed gently. Mr. Davenport nodded.

"Yeah, it's no big deal." I smirked.

"We've all used Leo as a scapegoat at least twice, if not more." I informed him. The shorter boy sent me a glare.

"We don't think you're dumb." Chase said. Adam nodded.

"Yeah, and your grandma didn't die." We all looked at him and he shrugged. It was probably the most comforting thing that came to him, so I couldn't really get annoyed with Adam, but still. You don't say that dude!

"Marcus, why don't you come out and have dinner with us?" Mr. Davenport suggested. Marcus nodded.

"Okay." He sniffled. He looked at Leo. "You guys go ahead; I want to apologize to Leo."

We all nodded and started to leave, but Leo gave me a panicky look. He did NOT want to be left alone with Marcus. I stepped outside the gym, made some excuse about grabbing my bag from my locker, and then leaned against the wall, listening to the conversation.

"I'm waiting." Leo said. I heard Marcus laugh a bit.

"You didn't actually think I was going to apologize, did you?" he laughed. "They totally believed me. My grandmother's not dead; she's in Miami playing shuffleboard."

"What is wrong with you? Why are you doing this?" Leo demanded.

"It's a long story." Marcus replied. "But let's just say, you're in my way. Oh, and if you ever try to rat me out again, you're toast. For real." Marcus walked out into the hall a minute later. I cleared my throat and he turned to me, a little surprised that I was still there.

"Calla!" he grinned. "I thought you went home."

"I was going to, but I heard a very interesting conversation." I replied. His smile faded. "By the way, whatever you're trying to get to, or trying to do, Leo's not the only one standing in your way."

I grabbed my bag and started walking home. I wondered what Marcus could possibly be after.


	11. Mission: Space

**Calla's POV**

"Yeah, but this is Adam we're talking about. He still thinks that his shoes are called 'left' and 'not left'." Chase argued. It was a particularly boring Friday, and we'd been trying to decide all last period who was dumber; Adam or my brother. So far, Adam was winning.

"Hey guys!" I called as Adam, Bree, and Leo walked down the stairs from the last period classes; History, Spanish, and English. "How was class?"

"Awesome!" Adam exclaimed. "Someone keeps leaving me a little piece of gum stuck to the bottom of my desk. Is that nice of them?"

"Adam, please tell me you didn't…and you did." Chase finished as Adam blew a large, pink bubble. I looked at Chase.

"Fine you win. Jay's smarter." I told him. He grinned triumphantly. Leo looked up, an annoyed look on his face.

"Guys, don't look now but here comes that guy none of us like." He warned. We all looked to where Marcus was standing.

"M-dog!" Adam, Bree, and Chase greeted much to our annoyance. Marcus grinned.

"Hey guys!" he replied. Leo glared at his siblings.

"Wait, hold the phone. Hold the phone. Hold the freaky-deaky phone." He pushed them away from their newest friend. "M-dog?"

"Yeah, bros call each other by nicknames." Chase explained. Leo looked offended.

"I'm your actual bro and you don't call me by a nickname!" he snapped.

"Actually we do, we just choose not to do it in your presence, Mr. Tiny McLittlestein." I told him, remembering the nickname Jessica had given him so many months ago. We all laughed, except for Leo.

"Hey Marcus, what are you up to this weekend?" Bree asked, curious. Marcus sighed.

"My dad's out of town so I'll be stuck home alone with my grandma." He replied. I gasped, catching his mistake.

"HA!" I yelled, pointing at Marcus and getting everyone's attention. "You said your grandma was dead."

"The other grandma!" Marcus snapped. "Bt thanks for reminding me."

"Calla!" Chase scolded. I glared at him.

"I wish I could stay with one of you guys for the weekend." Marcus said aloud. Leo smirked.

"And I wish you weren't a spastic sociopath with abandonment issues." He said. Wow, I stifled a laugh. Man, Leo could be vicious when someone pissed him off.

"Or a deranged freak with no life whatsoever." I added. Chase looked at both of us disapprovingly.

"Leo, Calla, give it a rest." Chase told us. Leo looked at him.

"Chase, none of us are safe until the FBI responds to my request for a background check on this 'M-dog'." Leo retorted.

"Leo, shut up, or I'll get Calla's duct tape out of her locker." Bree told him. I looked at her.

"Uh, no. That's for pranks and textbook mishaps only. And in the case that Kaitlin finally goes nuts." She rolled her eyes at me.

"Look Marcus, I'm sure you can stay with us. I'll just check with Mr. Davenport." Chase told him. Marcus frowned.

"You call your dad Mr. Davenport?" he asked. Chase froze.

"Um, no. But you do. And I wanted to make sure you knew who I was talking about." He covered.

"Um, okay. Cool." He grinned. "Thanks guys."

The last bell of the day rang and Marcus left to go home. I looked and saw that I was missing my bag. "Oh, crap. I left my bag in my locker. BRB."

I ran off to go get my bag. Suddenly, Chase yelled "Calla, watch out!"

I turned around and saw a football come right at me, then change it's direction in mid-air. It landed a few feet away from me. I looked at Chase, who still hand his arm reached out.

I looked back at the football. How did it change directions like that? Chase certainly didn't touch it, yet it acted as if he had made it turn. The others had similar looks of confusion on their faces.

"Chase? What just happened?" I asked slowly.

"Did you just…" Adam trailed off, unsure of how to explain it. For once, we were all at a loss for words.

"I think I just moved that ball with my mind." Chase said slowly, as if he wasn't too sure about it either.

"I didn't know you could do that." Leo knew perfectly well that he shouldn't be able to, but was just trying to clarify.

"Neither did I." Chase was still shocked. Adam smirked.

"If you can do that with your mind, I wonder what I can do with mine." He wondered aloud. Bree put a hand on her older brother's shoulder.

"We've all been wondering that for years." She assured him. He grinned. Chase looked at me.

"Do you know what that was?" he asked. I shrugged.

"Well, unless you've magically gotten real life super powers, I've no idea what you just did. But maybe Mr. Davenport does." I said. Chase nodded.

"We could check his computer." He suggested. I nodded.

"Sure, let's do that." I agreed, grabbing my bag from my locker and shutting it. "Let's go."

**Xxx**

"Chase, this is amazing!" Leo said as we walked into the lab. I ran ahead of the short boy and started accessing Mr. Davenport's files. "You can move things with your mind! You're like a really cool magician!"

"If there was such thing as a really cool magician." I joked. Leo nodded.

"True." He agreed. Chase shook his head.

"It was probably just a fluke." He decided. "It's not as if everything around me is going to start flying through the air." He waved his hand and everything around him started flying through the air. "Uh-oh."

"I'm going to go tell Mr. Davenport about this." Bree said, standing up from the only chair that didn't go flying. Chase shook his head.

"No!" he objected. "If this is a glitch, and Mr. Davenport finds out about it, he won't let me go to school anymore."

"Hold up Chase, we're not sure if it's a glitch." I said, pulling up the files about their bionics. It was password protected.

"Please tell me you know the password." Chase begged. I laughed.

"It's easy enough to guess." I told him. "He has the same password for everything. M-E." I typed in the two capital letters and the files opened. "Ta-da!"

"Just find…whatever this is." Chase ordered. I searched through the files.

"Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing…wait a second." I stopped at one file, scanning it briefly. "You may want to take a look at this one."

"What's it say?" Adam asked. I read it again.

"You guys all have bionic abilities hidden within your chips." I announced. "Chase discovered one of them. It's officially called molecular kinesis, but more commonly known as telekinesis. You can move objects by manipulating the energy around them."

"Seriously?" Chase read the words over my shoulder. "Awesome!"

"Hey Calla, can you unlock your ability to use smaller words?" Adam asked me. I sighed, and then smiled at him.

"Chase can use the force." I told him. We'd just watched a Star Wars marathon last week with my friend Faith, so I knew he'd understand what I meant. He gasped.

"No way! My brother's a Jedi!" he gasped. I laughed.

"Wait, what about our hidden abilities? You said we all have them." Bree demanded. I tried to access the rest of it, but instead of giving me access, it shut me out. Completely.

"What? Come on! Sorry guys, Mr. Davenport must have put a security lock on it. You guys will just have to discover them on your own." I told them. They all looked at each other curiously, then Adam gasped.

"Ooh! Maybe my new ability is that I can speak Russian!" he exclaimed before trying it out. "Testing, testing. Is this Russian?"

We all shook our heads sadly at him. "Keep looking." Bree told him. Chase looked at me.

"What abilities do YOU think we have?" he questioned. I frowned.

"Why are you asking me?" I demanded.

"Well, you work with him. You'd have the best idea." Bree replied. I thought about it and shrugged.

"Not sure. It'd be pretty cool if it was something like atmoskinesis, pyrokinesis, flying, invisibility, telepathy, intangibility, geoleaping, shape shifting…" I started listing off all the super-hero powers I could think of, but trailed off when I saw them staring at me.

"Wow, and I thought I read too many comic books." Leo commented. I rolled my eyes.

"You lot go upstairs." I ordered, pointing the elevator. I looked at Chase. "We're gonna try and figure out how to control this thing."

Chase nodded eagerly as his siblings left. I pointed to a shelf above the capsules. "Okay, Adam hid my IPod up there yesterday to annoy me and I can't get it down, so you do it."

"You don't really want to practice, do you?" Chase guessed. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Just get me my stinking IPod!" I ordered.

**Chase's POV**

"Hey, Mr. Davenport?" Bree asked as we all walked upstairs. We'd all agreed to keep the hidden ability stuff a secret until we knew more, so Bree wasn't about to tell him about my telekinesis, much to my relief.

"Yeah, what's up guys?" He asked as we all sat down.

"Is it alright if Marcus spends the weekend here?" Adam asked. "His dad is away and he doesn't want to spend it with his not-dead grandma."

Mr. Davenport gave Adam a look. "Oh, and can Calla stay too?" Bree asked. "That was I won't be the only girl in a house full of apes."

"No!" Leo objected, running down the stairs. Calla looked at him, clearly offended.

"Thanks, I feel so loved." She commented. Leo shook his head.

"No, you can stay, but not Marcus. He's an evil two-faced liar. And also, a Sagittarius."

"Excuse me? I totally agree with everything you said, but I don't get what being a Sagittarius has to do with anything?" Calla questioned.

"They're shifty." He explained. Bree looked offended.

"I'm a Sagittarius." She exclaimed. Leo nodded.

"I rest my case." He replied. Suddenly the doorbell rang. I got up to answer it.

"Look guys, this isn't the best weekend. I've got a lot…" I opened the door and Marcus walked in, holding a backpack and a sleeping bag.

"Marcus?" I was a little surprised to see him. "What a surprise. We were just talking about you."

Leo jumped over the couch to greet him. "And and let me catch you up to speed. You're two-faced, and no one likes you. Please leave."

Marcus laughed. "I love this little guy. So full of fire." He patted Leo's head affectionately, then turned to Mr. Davenport.

"Mr. Davenport, my dad left before my grandma got there and I was all alone, and this is the only place that I feel safe, and please don't make me leave." He hugged Mr. Davenport tightly. Bree was smiling at Marcus sympathetically, Adam was trying not to laugh, Mr. Davenport was freaked out, Leo was glaring at him, and Calla was making gagging motions.

"Alright, you can stay." Mr. Davenport gave in. He sort of had this thing about people crying. It was the one thing he despised more than the conversation not being about himself. Bree had used this to her advantage quite a lot, which is why she owned a cell phone, a laptop, and more clothes than the mall did.

Marcus grinned, but before he could say anything, Mr. Davenport's watch started beeping. Calla's hand reached for her pocket, then pulled out her vibrating phone. I looked at her. And mouthed the words:  _What's up?_

"What's that?" Marcus asked curiously. Calla looked at me nervously. She mouthed a single word:  _Mission_

"That…that means it's happy time." Mr. Davenport grinned widely. "And how about you stay here and be happy while we go other there and be happy."

Mr. Davenport grabbed the five of us and pulled us into the kitchen area while Marcus stood idly by the couch. "Guys, that was the mission alarm. We have to get down to the lab immediately." Mr. Davenport hissed. "Leo and Calla, you two distract Marcus."

"What?" Leo demanded. "No. No. No."

"I'd rather die." Calla said seriously, at the same time. I warned her with my eyes that Marcus was walking up behind him.

"Marcus, we'll be right back. We have to…go pick up a pizza." Bree lied as Mr. Davenport and Adam ran downstairs.

"All of you?" Marcus questioned. I looked at Bree.

"It's an extra large?" I suggested. Bree grabbed my arm and pulled me downstairs, leaving Calla and Leo to entertain Marcus.

"What's going on?" I demanded as we reached the lab. Mr. Davenport was already at the computer while Adam was getting our mission supplies ready.

"There's a crisis at my space station." Mr. Davenport explained. I gasped.

"You have a space station?" I demanded. He looked at me as if I was an idiot…or Adam.

"Yeah." He said it as if it was obvious. "I'm building the world's first intergalactic tourist destination. Key word first and tourists. Ka-ching! Watch the earth rise from your hotel room as you enjoy all the comforts of home, like oxygen and gravity." he grinned.

"Man, I have always wanted to go to space." Astrology was by far my favourite class. Mr. Davenport nodded.

"Well, you're about to get your wish." He told me. "A meteor shower struck the station and an asteroid breached the hull. It's gassing out. If we don't so something soon, it's going to re-enter the earth's atmosphere and disintegrate, along with all my crew members on board."

"Our first rescue mission! In space!" Adam exclaimed. "Wait, from now on, I'm going to need you all to refer to me by my code name, Space Cadet."

Bree and I bit back laughs. "Got news for you buddy; we've been calling you by your code name for years." Bree told him. Adam grinned happily as Mr. Davenport handed out the ear pieces.

"Okay, you guys don't have much training for space, but since people's lives are in danger, I'm going to talk you through it." Mr. Davenport promised. "Chase, as usual, you are our mission leader."

I nodded, a little prideful of that. "Now, you're mission suits are not equipped for zero-gravity so there are three space suits in the shuttle. Lift off is in five minutes."

"What about Marcus?" I asked. We couldn't just leave him alone in the house with Calla and Leo, mainly because of their strange hatred of him.

"I don't know. I guess I'm going to have to call his not-dead grandma." Mr. Davenport said, walking upstairs to catch Calla and Leo up to speed.

"Chase, if you're going to be our mission leader, you have to tell Davenport about your telekinesis. If you can't control it, you're putting us all at risk." Bree told me seriously.

"Don't worry. I already talked to him about it and he deactivated it. So I'm good to be your mission leader." I lied. To be completely honest, I hadn't even mentioned it to him, nor had I figured out how to control it. Calla and I spent an hour trying to figure it out and by the end of it, all we had was a severely damaged IPod.

"Oh, I'm your mission leader." Adam mocked in a girly voice. "Why don't you just put it on a T-shirt so everyone knows when you walk into a room?"

I smirked, and pulled a blue T-shirt out of my bag. It read in big, bold silver letters: Mission Leader. "I did." I grinned. Adam smirked, much to my surprise.

"Fine, but when the aliens show up, you're getting probed first." He grinned at Bree, took his mission supplies bag and left.

**Calla's POV**

Okay, yes Mr. Davenport told us both to distract Marcus, but I really wasn't paying any attention. And Leo was doing such a great job. Okay, not really. But I was distracted. I was trying to find a chance to sneak down into the lab. I felt bad about leaving Leo alone with Marcus, but I HAD to know what was going on. What was the mission? How could I help?

Finally, Mr. Davenport ran upstairs. I stood up as he grabbed Leo, dragging him away from Marcus. "Hey Marcus, I have to borrow Leo and Calla for a second. Something went horribly wrong with the pizza."

He dragged the two of us into a corner. "What's going on? Which one of your inventions malfunctioned?" I demanded. Mr. Davenport looked at me, offended. "Oh, come on! Ten to one, that's the reason there's a mission!"

"The mission is very complicated." He told us. "I had to send Adam, Bree, and Chase into space."

"They're in space!" Leo and I both gasped. Not fair! I've always wanted to go into space.

"Quiet!" Mr. Davenport hissed, looking back at Marcus uneasily. He was going through his phone, texting someone.

"You sent them into space, while we're here making small talk to a narcissistic commitment folk who nine out of ten women wouldn't take home to meet their mother?" Leo demanded, holding up a magazine. Mr. Davenport looked at it briefly, then back at us. I crossed my arms.

"I think we deserve combat pay for this." I said. Mr. Davenport sighed. Then I looked back at the living room. "BTW, Marcus is gone."

Mr. Davenport spun around and ran into the now empty room. "Where'd he go?"

"Probably dangling my hamster out of my window on the second floor." Leo suggested. I looked at him in mock horror.

"Not Mr. Fluffly!" I gasped. He smirked. Mr. Davenport looked at us.

"We need to find him now." He started to go look, but Leo stopped him.

"I believe Calla mentioned combat pay." He said subtly. Mr. Davenport sighed and pulled out a wad of five, giving me and Leo each four.

"Fine, combat pay." He agreed. I smirked and pocketed the money.

"Just to be clear, this does not cover my gas, mileage, food…" Leo said before Mr. Davenport pushed him towards the stairs.

"Find him!" he ordered. I nodded and went to search the main floor. About twenty minutes later, I gave up looking for him and headed to the elevator. Leo was already waiting.

"Couldn't find him?" he guessed. I shook my head.

"Where the hell is Eddie?" I wondered. Leo shrugged and we went down to the lab to check on the mission's progress. I walked out ahead of Leo and sat down at my laptop.

"Hey Marcus." I nodded at the boy in Bree's capsule. I started typing a few things in, then realized that Marcus was in the lab. "Marcus!"

"Calla, Leo, have you two found…oh, I see you did." Mr. Davenport yelled, coming from behind us. Marcus opened the capsule door.

"What is this place?" he asked in awe. Me and Leo exchanged panicky looks. "What are these?"

"Those…Calla, tell him what they are." Mr. Davenport said, pushing me forward. I said the first thing that came to mind.

"Washing machines?" I suggested. Mr. Davenport pushed me away.

"Yes, washing machines. Those are my high tech, industrial washing machines." He lied. "Each load costs a hundred and fifty quarters."

Marcus nodded, completely convinced. I grabbed his wrist and started to lead him away. "Okay, back up stairs you little weirdo."

He stopped and looked at Mr. Davenport with such an innocent look on his face. "I want to watch you work." He begged.

"No." The three of us replied in unison. Mr. Davenport began to lead Marcus away.

"Now is not really a good time for visitors." He told Marcus, then he turned to us. "I will be back before the 'rinse cycle' has enough 'space' to 'land'."

I nodded and sat down at my desk. "Got it." Leo told him. "Until you're back, we will make it our 'mission' to 'control' the 'rinse cycle'." Mr. Davenport smiled proudly. "But I think the rinse cycle might need more of a payload."

Mr. Davenport glared at him, then brought Marcus out of the room. I laughed and grinned at Leo as my computer accessed the cameras and video feeds connected to the space shuttle.

"Nice one Leo. Nice one." He grinned and pulled up a seat besides me.

**Chase's POV**

When we got into the shuttle, four people sat waiting for us. They stood up as we walked in.

"Greetings, space people!" Adam exclaimed. "We come in peace from a planet called Earth."

I rolled my eyes. "Adam, they're from Earth too." Bree told him. He shook his head.

"No, that's what they want you to think. But you see her over there?" he pointed to the only woman of the group. "She'd about to pull her head off and become queen of the alien squid people. Wait for it…wait for it…" The woman's fellow astronauts stepped away from her cautiously. "Wait for it…"

I ignored him and greeted the astronauts. "Hello everyone, sorry we're late, but the Milky Way is a bear this time of night." None of them even cracked a smile. I frowned. Calla would have laughed, at least. Then maybe threw a pillow or pencil at me for making stupid puns, but at least she would have laughed.

"Alright people." Bree pushed me out of the way. "You're safe now. So, single file to the back of the shuttle. Oh, and your in-flight movie is me, talking about my boy problems. Whoo-hoo." Bree actually sounded excited about that. The astronauts started to walk out.

"Wait for it…" Adam said one last time. The woman looked at him, then filed out with the others. I turned to him and Bree.

"Alright, let's get to work." I said before dashing to the computer. I tapped a couple of keys, and the shuttle's status appeared. "There isn't much time." I told them, reading the 85% breached alert. "The hull's breach is compromising the integrity of the station. Not to mention, there's an asteroid shower heading our way."

"Okay, I've got the tool we need to fix the hull." Adam said, swinging the tool around his fingers.

"Adam, be careful with that! It's not a toy." I told him, worried that he'd drop it. He rolled his eyes, a goofy grin on his face.

"Not unless you give it its own voice." He told me, before speaking a squeaky voice. "Hey, look at me, I'm a toy."

I snatched the tool out of his hands and placed it on the table next to us. "Let's just contact Mr. Davenport to get our instructions." I said.

I tapped a few more keys, bringing up the connection between the shuttle and the lab. But instead of Mr. Davenport, we were greeted by Calla.

" _Earth here, Commander Parker speaking."_  She grinned. We all looked at her in surprise.

"Calla? Where's Mr. Davenport?" Bree demanded. Calla shrugged, a worried look on her face.

" _He went to drop Marcus off, but he should have been back ages ago!"_  she replied. I looked at her.

"Do you think you can help us?" I asked hopefully. She nodded, but before she could speak, the screen moved and Leo grinned on screen.

" _Before any of that happens, I need a few souvenirs." He told us. "A space helmet, space rocks, space soap, a space towel, those tiny little space shampoos, shampoos, not conditioners…"_ I shut down the screen, knowing that he wasn't close to being done.

"Great!" I complained. "How is Adam supposed to go out into space and fix the breached hull if we don't have Mr. Davenport here to tell him how to do it?"

In my frustration, I lost control of my molecular kinesis and accidently sent the tool we needed flying. It hit the wall hard, then dropped to the ground. It was broken in two pieces. I froze as my siblings gave me angry looks.

"Chase," Bree said slowly. "Did your  _deactivated_  telekinesis just destroy the tool we need to fix the damaged hull?"

"No." I lied. She glared at me, furious.

"You lied to us!" she accused. "You never even told Davenport about it did you?"

"If I had told him about it, he would never have let me go into pace." I objected. Adam nodded.

"Wait, so our mission leader just messed up the mission?" he confirmed. Then, the beamed. "FOR ONCE IT WASN'T ME!"

"We have to talk to Mr. Davenport, he'll know what to do." I told them, running over to the computer. I turned the screen back on, but Leo was still listing off what he wanted.

"… _space chocolates, space toffee, a Martian, moon cheese, space pizza…"_  I hit the screen again.

"Well, at least we know what Leo wants from the gift shop!" Bree cried, frustrated. "What are we going to do?"

I shrugged, completely idealess. "Wait." Adam said suddenly, his voice serious. "What if I use my heat vision to seal the pieces of the hull back together?"

"Adam, that's a great idea!" Bree exclaimed. She turned to me. "Chase, hand over your T-shirt."

"What? No way!" I objected. "Let's just go! Come on! Go!" I ushered my siblings into the room with the space helmets and tethers.

"Okay, the visor is designed to let your heat vision through." I told my brother as Bree handed him his helmet. "But whatever you do, don't open it, or your face will explode."

He grimaced, then nodded. Bree started to attach the tether.

"Adam, I'm connecting this tether to you." She informed him. He began to chuckle. "It will keep you connected to the station so you won't drift off."

"Tether." Adam laughed. "That's a funny word. Tether. Tether, tether, tether, tether…"

We walked out of the room and the door shut behind us. He put on the helmet and nodded. I hit the button to release him into space.

" _Tether, tether, tether…"_  he continued over the ear pieces.

"Adam, just find the panel!" I ordered. He looked around and saw it.

" _Oh, I see it!"_  he told us as he drifted closer to it. I heard the sound of his heat vision and moving metal.  _"I did it. I did it!"_  He announced proudly. Suddenly, there was an electrical static.  _"Uh-oh."_

"Adam? What was that?" I demanded. He didn't say anything, but he didn't need to because he floated out in front of us, holding his broken tether.

"Oh no!" Bree cried. "His heat vision severed the tether! He's drifting out into space!"

"Uh, Bree? We have another problem. Adam, watch out!" I yelled, spotting the incoming asteroid. He started screaming. "Use your super-strength to punch it apart!"

He hit the asteroid and it broke into a million pieces. "Ow!" he complained. Bree ran into the room where one tether and helmet remained.

"What are you doing?" I demanded. She handed me a tether and turned around.

"I've got to go save him!" she told me. "Help me attach the tether."

I attached the tether and handed her a helmet. "Just be careful out there."

"I will." She promised and she put it on. I walked out, the door shut behind me and my sister headed out into space. I watched helplessly as she tried to reach Adam.

" _Adam, hold on! I'm coming!"_ she promised him.

" _Hold on to what?"_  he replied. She reached out for him as she hit the end of the tether, but they were at least a meter apart. There was no way she could get to him.

" _I can't reach; the tether's too short!"_  she exclaimed.

" _It's not going to work; I'm drifting away!"_  Adam yelled. I clenched my fists. I HATED not being able to help. Then I got an idea.

"Wait, maybe I can use my telekinesis to bring him closer to you." I suggested.

" _Chase, you can't control it. What if he goes flying off into space?"_  Bree told me, not liking the idea.

" _Already doing it!" Adam yelled. "I say go for it!"_

I focused as hard as I could, imagining Adam moving closer to Bree. But nothing was happening. "It's not working!" I exclaimed. "Maybe it doesn't work on people!"

" _Chase, you have to try harder! It's our last hope!"_  Bree told me. I focused, and suddenly, Adam began to move. He drifted slowly at first, but then picked up speed until finally, Bree was able to grab his hand.

" _I got him!"_  she announced, relief evident in her voice.

"Yes!" I grinned. "Who's the telekinesis master? Me, that's who!" I did a little victory dance, but stopped when Adam and Bree yelled at me. Apparently, I had been moving them too.

"Sorry!" I called sheepishly, then ran to reel them in.

**Calla's POV**

"Oh, for God's sake, GIVE ME THAT!" I snatched the computer screen from Leo as he continued to go on and on about what he wanted from space. Seriously, who the heck wanted space underwear?

"Chase?" I tried to activate the connection, but for some reason, no one was picking up. "Chase? Bree, Adam? Where are you guys?"

"Hey, on my way home, I discovered what that little red light on the dashboard of my hydrogen car means." Mr. Davenport said, walking in. "It means you're out of hydrogen and you're walking home."

"Wonderful." I muttered. Mr. Davenport pushed my chair and me out of the way. I pulled out my IPod, knowing that he would have no better luck than I did. Plus, I hadn't gotten a chance to see how badly Chase had damaged it when it had gone flying into the lab doors.

"How's the mission going? Guys? What's the status of the space station? Are you there?" he demanded.

"Yup, right here." I looked over and saw Adam, Bree, and Chase walk in.

"Oh." Mr. Davenport looked a little surprised to see that they were done. He'd only been gone for like…an hour! "Hello."

They all dropped their bags, very annoyed. "Where were you?" Chase demanded.

"You totally abandoned us, and the entire mission!" Bree accused.

"Adam floated out into space and almost became the world's dumbest satellite!" Chase exclaimed. "And he would have, if I hadn't stumbled upon my telekinesis!"

Mr. Davenport stared at him as Chase realized what he said. "Oh. Also, I stumbled upon my telekinesis."

"How did you find out about that?" Mr. Davenport questioned. Chase crossed his arms.

"I think the more important question is; how could you not have told me sooner?" Mr. Davenport didn't know what to say to that.

"Mr. Davenport?" Bree questioned. "What other abilities do I have? Because I vote for the ability to see into the future and see myself far, far away from all of this." She gestured at her brothers, who looked offended.

Mr. Davenport sighed. "Yes, it's true. You all have abilities that you don't know about, but I can't tell you what they are or when they'll appear."

"Why not?" I questioned, raising my hand like we did in school.

"Because I don't know what they all are or when they'll appear."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Chase demanded. Mr. Davenport sighed.

"Look, there's certain things I can't tell you right now, but it's for your own good. Strange things will continue to happen and I promise eventually I'll give you the answers you're looking for." He assured them. "But for now, you just have to trust me."

"But Mr. Davenport-" Chase started to object, but Mr. Davenport cut him off.

I need you to trust me." He told us. All of us. "And you have to be careful who you allow into your lives. We had a close call today. Marcus found the lab."

Adam, Bree, and Chase stared at him. "What?"

Leo and I exchanged looks. "Hm." Leo pondered aloud. "Who would have guessed that Marcus coming here would lead to bad things?" They all rolled their eyes. "I'll tell you who! It was Mr. Tiny McLittlestein and his side kick…" he trailed off trying to think of a nickname for me. "Calla."

"What? I don't get a nickname?" I questioned. They all smirked, except for Mr. Davenport.

"We're just lucky I came down when I did, because he could have discovered all of our secrets." I looked at him.

"Actually, I was down here first…" I said. Adam suddenly gasped. He looked at me and pointed to my hands.

"How did you get your IPod back?" he demanded.

**Marcus' POV**

" _What? I don't get a nickname?" Calla questioned. Most of them smiled, except for Davenport._

" _We're just lucky I came down when I did, because he could have discovered all of our secrets." He said. Calla glanced at him._

" _Actually, I was down here first…" she said slowly. Adam gasped and pointed to her broken IPod, which was sitting in her hands._

" _How did you get your IPod back?" he demanded._

I looked at my dad/boss with a smirk. "Everything went exactly as planned." I informed him. "The lab was right where you said it would be and they have no idea that there's a microscopic spy-cam recording their every move."

I handed him the IPad se he could see for himself. The Lab Rat, along with the twerps Calla and Leo were talking amongst themselves about their latest mission and Chase's newfound powers.

"We've got them right where we want them."


	12. T'Was the Mission Before Christmas

**Leo's POV**

I frowned, trying to think. I had a decision to make. A big one. And it would have to be the right one. Finally, I made my choice. "Do you have any fours?"

"Nope!" Calla replied cheerfully. "Go fish!"

Calla and I were sitting on the couch, playing goldfish while my mom went through our Christmas cards. Big D was going through some last minute reports in the lab, Bree was checking out the decorations, and Adam was making cookies while dressed as Santa. Chase was no where to be seen.

I picked up a card as Calla looked at her hand. "You got any Queens?"

"Seriously?" I complained, handing her my three Queens. "How did you know I had them?"

"Because I'm the queen, that's why." Calla replied. She looked up as Big D walked into the room.

"Thanks again for letting me stay here for Christmas while my parents and brother are visiting my grandfather." Calla smiled gratefully. I looked at her.

"Why didn't you want to go with them?" I asked. Calla made a face.

"Because he hates me, smells like ham, and won't let me bring my laptop or cell phone into the house!" she complained. Big D cracked a smile.

"Well you can use all the electronics you want here." He assured her. Adam hugged the microwave, a horrified expression on his face.

"Not Charles!" he exclaimed. We all looked at him.

"You named the microwave Charles?" I questioned. He nodded, still holding onto the microwave for dear life.

"Alright Adam, I won't touch…Charles." Calla assured him. He grinned and put it back on the counter. Then he walked over with a tray of uncooked cookie dough.

"Anyone want a cookie?" he asked. I frowned.

"Those aren't even cooked." I informed him. He looked surprised.

"Oh, okay. Give me-" "Hold up!" Calla raised her hand to stop him. She snatched a fist full of cookie dough off the tray and popped a bit of it into her mouth.

"What?" she asked when she saw us staring. "It tastes much better uncooked."

"Adam?" I looked at him and he used his heat vision to cook the rest of them. Unfortunately, most of them caught fire. I looked at Calla. "Smart idea."

She smiled. "Thanks, but I'm not sharing."

Bree walked in from outside, looking a little peeved. "Why is our house covered in blinking lights? People already think we're weird, we don't need to shine a light on it!"

"Oh, I put them there. I want Santa to come to our house first." Adam said simply. Bree shook her head.

"Adam, we all love Christmas, but this is a little over the top." She told him. Suddenly, the door was kicked open, and Chase hopped in, tied up in Christmas lights. We all tried not to laugh. "That however, is spot on." Bree high fived Adam. Chase glared at him.

"Not funny Adam!" he shouted. Adam pointed to the door.

"Get back up on the roof! You're ruining my display!" he accused. Chase gave him a look.

"I'm just lucky that a racoon chewed me free." He snapped. Calla went to help untie him, but stopped when we heard the familiar mission alarm.

"Everyone, lab, now!" Big D ordered. We all bolted downstairs. Once we hit the lab floor, Calla stopped.

"We forgot Chase, didn't we?" she asked. I nodded.

"Oh yeah. Totally." I replied. Calla ran back upstairs to get Chase as Mr. Davenport started to explain what was going on.

"The alert is coming from facility X, my research center in the frozen tundra." He explained. I looked at him, offended.

"Hey! Who's the mission specialist here?" I demanded. I turned to Adam and Bree just as Chase and Calla were rushing into the room. "The alert is coming from facility X, Big D's research center in the frozen tundra."

"Wait, the tundra's near the north pole." Adam realized. Then he gasped. "Santa needs our help! You wrap, you tape, and I'll go hang with the elves."

"Dr. Evans? Are you there?" Calla asked. We turned to see her typing away at the keyboard. Suddenly, a man's face appeared on the screen.

"Yeah, I'm here!" he yelled. "Although, there's been a major volcanic eruption nearby and we're experiencing aftershocks. I'm afraid if we don't act fa…" the transmission died.

"Oh, Merry Christmas to you too, Dr. Evans!" Adam said as Calla tried to regain communications. "Rude."

"Sorry guys, I know the timing's not ideal." Big D told them.

"It's okay Mr. Davenport." Chase replied. "We know what we have to do."

Adam nodded. "Yep. Let's crack open some eggnog and hit it hard after the new year." He ran off to get the Christmas drink. Bree ran to get him while Chase grabbed their mission suits. Calla and Big D kept trying to re-contact Dr. Evans. Meanwhile, I pulled out some carrot sticks I found in Calla's snack bin for when she got hungry down in the lab.

"I can't believe you guys had to go on a mission on Christmas Eve." I complained. I looked at Big D. "Just to be clear, I don't have to wait for them to open my presents, do I?"

"Well, I'm not going to let this ruin my Christmas spirit." Adam said. He looked at Calla. "Hat me!"

She laughed and tossed him a red Santa hat. Chase looked at Adam and he pulled it on. "Really Adam? A Santa hat with the mission suits?"

"Hey, if the ladies at the bank can wear them at work, so can I." Adam retorted.

"I can't re-establish contact with Dr. Evans. The volcano must have blocked out satellite communications." Big D said. Calla looked worried.

"Crap. The ear pieces won't work without satellite." She looked worriedly at the others. "Leo, Mr. Davenport and I won't be able to talk to you guys."

"Well, it will be hard getting through a mission without the constant sound of Leo crunching on carrot sticks." Chase replied sarcastically. Calla smirked. I wasn't pleased.

"Hey! You know I'm a stress eater!" I snapped. Chase shook his head in amusement.

"See you guys later." He said as they left the room. Calla sighed.

"Come on. Let's go see what's on TV." She suggested. I followed her upstairs, although I knew the only thing that she would find was Christmas specials. In the end, she decided to teach me a card game called Spit. Apparently, her brother taught her. We played for a while, sipping hot cocoa and munching on cookies.

A few games later, the door bell rang. "I got it!" I called to my mom and Big D. I looked at Calla. "It's probably grandma with her holiday feast."

"Or maybe some carollers." Calla suggested. I opened the door and saw neither. I saw a face that I was sure was part of the movie The Nightmare before Christmas. I saw Principal Perry.

"Hey Dooley." She greeted. I screamed and shut the door. Everyone inside was looking at me strangely.

"Code red. Turn out the lights and everybody hide." Calla and I hid behind the couch as my mom went to open the door.

"Hi…Principal Perry?" My mom was surprised to see her.

"I'm with Leo and Calla. I'll be behind the tree." Big D said, backing away. My mom stopped him and turned to Principal Perry.

"Sorry to bother you." Principal Perry apologized before my mom could speak. "But I ran into some car trouble while doing one of my favourite yuletide traditions."

"Oh, were you driving around looking at Christmas lights?" My mom asked. Principal Perry shook her head.

"No. I was tearing through puddles, trying to splash carollers." She replied cheerfully. "Anyway, I took a corner too fast and accidently ran over some of your decorations."

She pulled out a flattened Santa Claus. It had tire marks right through it, as if she had been trying to hit it. "Nice aim." Big D replied. "What are you driving? A tractor?"

"I'm stuck. I popped a tire and my cell phone's dead. Although I would be surprised if I managed to get any cell phone service up here on Rich Man Mountain." Principal Perry reached for our home phone.

"Actually, we like to call it Billionaire Beau." Big D corrected. Principal Perry glared at him.

"On the phone." She told him, then grabbed Calla's hot cocoa.

"Hey! That's mine!" Calla exclaimed.

"Oh, shut it Parker." Principal Perry snapped. Calla shrunk back, afraid of her. Finally, someone picked up on the other end. "Hello? Harry? I had another accident. I'm going to need a tow…No! The cat wasn't driving this time…uh-huh…what? Great!" she slammed the phone down and looked at us. "There's only one driver tonight, and thirty people ahead of me on the list."

"Hey, I have a bike pump, let's see if that works." I suggested, trying to get the Satan's devil spawn out of my house. My mom glared at me.

"Leo!" she scolded. "Principal Perry, what are your Christmas plans?"

"Not much, just enjoying my cats' production of the Nutcracker with me as the stage." Both Calla and I were appalled at that statement. "The soundtrack comes courtesy of my belly growls."

"You are more than welcome to spend Christmas with us." My mom told her. Big D shook his head.

"No, she's really not." He said. Principal Perry smiled.

"I couldn't!" she said, giving us hope. "At least not without grabbing a few things from my car."

I looked at my mom. "What curse have you brought upon this house?" I demanded.

**Chase's POV**

When we finally got to facility X, it was night time. We headed inside the building, the temperature far below freezing. Not to mention how dangerous all the volcanic ash was for our health.

The place was a mess, things toppled over and broken machinery on the ground. A voice from behind startled us as we looked over the disaster zone. "Oh good! You made it!"

We turned to see Dr. Evans, wearing a Viking hat with wires around it.

"Did we really just risk our lives to save a guy in a Viking helmet?" Bree demanded. Dr. Evans looked surprised.

"Oh, this?" he took off the helmet. "This is my TV antenna. When the ash cloud clears, I get great reception. All two Eskimo channels."

"Is everything okay here?" I was so hoping he would say yes. I wanted to get back before morning.

"Well, the volcano really shook things up, communications are down, and the pizza guy is four years late." He informed us. "But other than that, I'm good."

Bree groaned. "Great. Another genius with bad jokes. Merry Christmas to me." She said sarcastically, a fake smile on her face. Dr. Evans didn't even notice.

"Wow, I can't believe I'm finally getting the chance to meet the bionic super-humans I've heard so much about." He exclaimed. Adam stared at him.

"You know our secret?" he demanded. "Ah, great. We came to save him and now we have to kill him. Chase, grab his legs. I'll get the bucket. Come on! Calla trained us for this moment!"

I stopped him before he could kill the scientist. "Stop. He's Mr. Davenport's chief scientist; he knows everything about us."

"That's right." Dr. Evans agreed. "Let me show you around."

He took us by our shoulders and spun us around in a circle. "This is my lab/bedroom/kitchen/that's pretty much it."

Bree looked at him in awe. "You live here all alone?" she asked, curious. He nodded. "With no brothers." He shook his head. "Does this place have a guest house?"

"Sorry, this is it." He apologized. "And I'm sorry about the mess. Things have really gone down hill since my hologram wife left me."

We all stared at him, but he grinned. "I'm kidding! We actually get along great."

"Hey guys, check it out! A giant crystal ball! I'm going to ask it a question." Adam called, standing near a glass ball with glowing green rays floating inside of it. "When will Chase start to look like a man?"

"Careful!" Dr. Evans ran and pushed Adam away from the glass ball. "That's a gamma sphere. It's a containment vessel for the most powerful energy known to man; gamma rays. If we can harness these, we can solve the world's energy problem. Davenport and I have been working on this for years."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. I've been trying to develop a gamma sphere for Mr. Davenport." There was no way this idiot had finished before me.

"Well, I guess I beat you to it, little guy." Dr. Evans replied. I glared at him. I hated when people treated me like a little kid just because I was a little short for my age. "But don't feel bad. Nobody's perfect. In fact, if they gave out medals for trying, you would have a gold."

I stared at him. "Are you patronizing me?" I demanded. How dare he!

"It's pat-tronizing." He corrected. "And yes."

"You do realize I'm the smartest person on the planet?" I was pissed. He frowned.

"And every time you have to say it, it diminishes it just a little bit." Adam and Bree laughed.

"Are you watching this?" Bree asked Adam. He nodded.

"I can't look away." I glared at Dr. Evans, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Luckily, the sphere wasn't damaged during the eruption." He said, turning back to the gamma sphere. "Even the slightest crack could have had catastrophic consequences."

"Like what?" Adam asked, curious.

"The gamma rays would have blown a hole in the atmosphere and wiped out twenty percent of the population." Dr. Evans explained. Bree smirked.

"Well, that is Davenport Industries. Risking the fate of the world since 1992." She agreed. I looked at Dr. Evans.

"Come on Dr. Evans, we have to get you out of here." I told him. He shook his head.

"I can't leave until I've stabilized a few things. If you all help me, this won't take very long." I smirked.

"Oh. Oh, it won't take long." I assured him. "Because I'm smart."

"You said it again." He told me, making a motion to symbolize my intelligence going down. I gritted my teeth, trying not to yell at the man.

**Leo's POV**

"This is a few things?" I asked. Principal Perry had just dumped all of her things on our living room floor.

"Oh, I keep my car stocked with supplies in case of an emergency." Principal Perry replied. "Or in case I don't want to walk to the house. Oops! One more thing."

She went back outside and came back with a cat on a leash. Calla smiled.

"Aww…" she liked animals. She took the leash from Principal Perry and lifted the grey coloured feline into her arms.

"You brought your cat?" My mom asked, surprised. Principal Perry walked back outside.

"No," she replied. "I brought my cats."

She rolled in a cart with five cat carriers on it. "But don't worry. You won't even know that Scratch, Thumper, Boom-Boom, Mr. Whiskers, Tingle, and Widget are even here. They'll sleep with me, inside the tent."

"Tent?" Big D repeated. Principal Perry pulled out a tent and quickly set it up in our living room.

"I refuse to sleep on other people's bed linens. And no offence Dooley-Davenports, but I don't know where you've been." She told us. We tried not to take offence to that.

**Chase's POV**

"Thanks for lending a hand guys." Dr. Evans said as we finished securing the last of the machinery and cases.

"No problem, glad we could help." I replied. "Because you needed it. Yep! Brilliant scientist rescued by a fifteen year old. You sir, are welcome." I walked away to check on the last of the cases. Suddenly, a low grumbling noise echoed around the room.

"What's that noise?" Bree demanded. Adam smiled guiltily.

"Oh, you remember that questionable meatball sandwich I had at the gas station? Question's been answered." He replied.

"No, that sounded like an…" I trailed off as the room started to shake.

"Aftershock!" Dr. Evans and I yelled at the same time. "Brace yourselves!"

I ducked behind the doorframe, holding onto it as my siblings hid beside the two oil tanks, Adam covering Bree in case part of the ceiling broke. After a few seconds, the shaking stopped and a loud alarm went off. "Okay, that was not the meatballs." Adam said. I looked at Dr. Evans to make sure he was okay, but something else caught my eye. Something bad.

"Uh, Dr. Evans?" I pointed at the very visible, large crack in the gamma sphere.

"Oh no!" he gasped as he, Adam, and Bree followed my gaze.

"That looks dangerous." Adam said nervously. "Well, we're going to bounce. Merry Christmas!"

He started to run out of the room, but Bree caught him. Dr. Evans pushed me away from the sphere.

"Don't get to close. If that sphere breaks, the gamma rays will mix with the ash cloud and say goodbye northern hemisphere." I looked at him.

"Can we patch the crack?" I demanded. He looked at me with a patronizing look on his face.

"Patch the crack?" he repeated. I nodded. "Billion dollar technology, unstable energy source, and you want to patch the crack. Sure, let's put a little chewing gum in there and see if that works."

I was seriously getting tired of this guy treating me like I was an idiot. "I'm starting to see why the hologram wife left." I commented dryly. He looked at me, offended.

"Hey, how about I shoot my heat vision at it?" Adam suggested. Bree frowned.

"How would that help?" she asked. Adam shrugged.

"I don't know! It's what I do." He replied. I looked back to see the crack growing wider.

"The more oxygen that gets in that crack, the worse this is going to get." Dr. Evan exclaimed, taking another step back.

"Wait! Maybe I can temporarily contain it with my force field." I suggested. Dr. Evans nodded.

"Right! And I'll come up with a more permanent solution." He agreed, running towards his lab equipment as I created my force field and focused it around the gamma sphere.

"Well, you seem busy, so I'm going to go watch TV." Adam said. I was too focused on the gamma sphere to look back. "What do you recommend? Eskimo 1 or 2?"

**Leo's POV**

I glared at my evil teacher as she sat in my chair, sighing. My mom was hanging up our stockings, even the one Calla brought from her place. Only Principal Perry didn't have one. "I'm sorry we don't have a stocking for you." My mom apologized. Principal Perry gasped.

"I got it!" she exclaimed, pulling off her sock. She handed it to my mom. "Make sure you push the candy WAY down in there so it fills up my tootsies."

She got up. "I'm going to go squeeze into my Christmas jammies." She announced, running into the tent. Big D looked at us.

"Okay, we have got to get rid of her." Calla shrugged helplessly.

"I agree, but all of my ideas end with us going to jail." She replied. "But if you guys are still willing to risk it, my brother told me about this great body dumping spot that we can use."

We stared at her, unsure if she was serious or not. We decided we were better off not knowing. Principal Perry then got out of the tent, wearing a red one-piece covered in shiny gold bells. I was disgusted to my very core.

"What. Are. You. Wearing?" I was not the only one bothered by the outfit.

"My Christmas PJs." She replied. "Wanna see me belly-dance Frosty the Snowman?" she began to dance and I had just had enough.

Big D, Calla and I ran, not stopping until we reached the safety of the lab. We stayed down there, playing cards and watching Christmas specials until my mom came and told us that Principal Perry was asleep. Then we all snuck to our rooms, praying that she wouldn't wake up.

**Chase's POV**

"The gamma rays are melting a hole in my force field!" I yelled at Dr. Evans as the rays started to destroy it. "I don't know how much longer I'll be able to contain it."

"You have to. I don't have a fix yet." He called back. I smirked.

"Shocking." I said sarcastically.

"So when these gamma rays hit, we'll be pretty much goners?" he asked. I chuckled.

"Well, we'll be, but you should be fine since your head is full of lead." I replied. Dr. Evans gasped.

"Yes! Lead!" he exclaimed. I followed his thinking right away, but Adam thought that he was being insulted.

"Hey! Dr. Smarty, we just met. You don't have that privilege yet." He snapped.

"No! Lead can contain the gamma rays." I explained. Dr. Evans nodded eagerly.

"Exactly! Davenport made this building out of lead to keep everyone from spying on his secret technology. All we have to do is rig enough explosives to implode on the gamma sphere." He said.

"That's a great idea!" Bree exclaimed. Adam grinned.

"Blowing stuff up on Christmas!" he laughed happily. "It is the most wonderful time of the year."

**Leo's POV**

Man! I thought that Principal Perry was loud when she was awake. I didn't realize just how loudly she snored. It had woken us all up at five in the morning, and we could barely hear each other as we tried to exchange gifts. So far, I'd gotten the new GTA game, a pair of shoes, three new comic books, and a shirt that read 'Mission Specialist Dooley', all from Adam, Bree, Chase and Calla.

Calla meanwhile had gotten a pair of boots from Adam, a new sketching book from Bree, a snowflake necklace from Chase, and of course, ten bucks from me.

My mom pulled a new scarf out of a box. "Thank you for the scarf Donald!" she yelled over the sound of Principal Perry's snoring.

Big D frowned, unable to hear her. "What?" he yelled. My mom repeated herself. "Oh, you're welcome!"

He got up, walked over to Principal Perry's tent, shook it to shut her up, then looked at me. "What else did you get, Leo?" he asked.

I reached for my nearest present and pulled out what was inside. "I got…socks…wet socks…" I smelled them, then pushed them away. "That have been marked by a cat."

I kicked the socks as far away as possible as my mom got a text. She frowned, looking at it. "Oh, no. Grandma's snowed in. She's not going to make it."

"What?" I demanded. "So, no Adam, no Bree, no Chase, and now no grandma turkey? How much worse can this get?" I lay down on the couch.

The sound of jingling told me Principal Perry was awake. I looked up to see her scratching her behind. "And there's your answer." Calla told me, looking away. I glared at her.

"Merry Christmas, Principal Perry. I hope you slept well." Big D smiled at said woman. She glared back at him.

"Mind your own business!" she snapped. She gasped, seeing the presents. "Ooh! Santa came! What did I get?" She started looking among the presents for a name tag that said 'Terry' on it.

"Hopefully some new PJs because those just ripped." Big D commented, looking anywhere but at Principal Perry. I looked at my principal.

"Um, no one got you…" I started to explain, but my mom cut me off.

"Of course we got you something." She gave me a look that said to be quiet. "It's Christmas. You can't not get a gift on Christmas."

"It would be rude." Principal Perry agreed. My mom reached over for a gift, and grabbed the one nearest to Calla. She handed it to Principal Perry.

She ripped it open to reveal a brand new, state of the art QHT video game system. I'd been begging for one for months. "A new game system? I can exchange this for a nice blouse and two pairs of slacks. The good kind that you don't have to iron or wash."

I looked at the gift in envy, knowing that it should have been mine. "But I asked for a QHT!" I exclaimed. "Worst Christmas ever."

I headed down to the lab, hoping that Adam, Bree, and Chase would be back soon. About half an hour later, Calla sat down beside me, holding a couple of Christmas movie cases.

"Come on." She told me, gesturing to her laptop. Two bowls of popcorn and a plate full of Christmas cookies sat next to it. "We can watch videos on it. My family and I always do this on Christmas morning."

I sighed and followed her, grabbing a bowl of buttery popcorn as she popped in the first movie.

**Chase's POV**

"Deck the halls with large explosives. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, BOOM!" Adam sang cheerfully as he and Bree set up the explosives.

"Okay!" Bree and I both really wanted him to stop singing. "The charges are set, now all we have to do is light this fuse to start the implosion."

"We'll only have fifteen seconds to get out of the blast zone once the fuse is lit." I told Adam, making sure he wouldn't set off the bombs too early.

"Think we'll make it out in time?" Adam asked, worried. Bree smirked.

"I know I will." She answered. Dr. Evans walked up to him.

"Alright Adam, light the fuse." Adam nodded.

"Alright." He shot a laser at the fuse and I released my force field. The gamma rays started seeping out through the crack the second I did. I ran for the door. Adam and I made t out of the facility first, Bree and Dr. Evans behind us because she had to go back for him.

We hit the ground as the large explosives destroyed the complex. "Mr. Davenport won't be happy about that." Adam commented. No, no he would not.

"Did it work? I can't see anything." Dr. Evans demanded. I patted his shoulder.

"That should wear off." I promised him. "We need to get you out here. Adam, where's the transport?"

"I parked it in the garage under Facility X." he replied. We all, with the exception of Dr. Evans, looked at the destroyed facility. Bree sighed and stepped forward.

"Alright, Dr. Evans, hop on. You're first." She got ready for him to get on her back so she could speed him to safety. Instead, the blinded man thought I was Bree and jumped onto my back.

"Ready when you are missy." He told me. I pushed him off.

"Get off me!" I shouted. He laughed.

"She's a feisty little thing, isn't she?" I rolled my eyes as Bree helped him onto her back. She sped him back to one of Mr. Davenport's other labs, then got Adam, and finally me and brought us back home.

**Leo's POV**

It was about six o'clock when my mom finally came and got us. Big D had joined me and Calla by time we hit our third movie, and we were currently watching the Grinch that Stole Christmas.

"You know, after spending time with Perry, the Grinch doesn't seem like such a bad guy." Big D commented. I nodded.

"Yeah, at least after he took everyone's presents, he went home." I agreed. My mom walked up behind us.

"What are you three doing down here?" she questioned. Calla looked up from her now empty popcorn bowl.

"What we do everyday at school. Hiding from Principal Perry." She replied innocently. My mom rolled her eyes.

"Guys, she is our guest. It is rude to leave her upstairs by herself." She reminded us, sitting down on Big D's lap. "So go upstairs and let us know when she's gone."

We looked at them, and I was about to tell her no, when Calla gasped and jumped to her feet. I followed her gaze and saw the three very tired looking bionic super heroes walk through the door.

"You're back!" "It's so good to see you guys!" "Merry Christmas!" "Save us!" We all exclaimed, running to give them hugs.

"How'd the mission go?" Big D asked. Chase smiled.

"Yes." He replied. Calla and I exchanged looks. Something obviously went wrong.

"Well, how's my research facility?" Big D asked, noticing how Chase didn't exactly answer his question.

"You wouldn't even recognize it." Bree told him. He seemed satisfied with that answer.

"Hey, why are we down here when the presents are down here?" Adam asked. He, Bree, and Chase started to go upstairs.

"Wait, wait! Not so fast." I stopped them. They looked at me. "Principal Perry is upstairs. I repeat, Perry is in the house!"

They all considered that for a brief moment. "You know I am very tired." "Yeah, I could use some sleep." "See you in the new year!"

They started to walk to their capsules. "Freeze!" My mom stopped them. "Look, the poor woman is all alone and it's Christmas. At least we're all together. So let's make the best of it, right?"

Big D nodded. "Absolutely…not." He finished, looking at us. "Enough is enough. We are going to march up there right now and tell her 'Vamoose lady! This is our Christmas!'"

"Yeah!" we all cheered. Adam, Bree, Big D and I started to run upstairs.

"She can't see us in our mission suits." Chase reminded everyone. Big D nodded.

"Well, hurry up and get changed! I'm not telling her without back up." He said. They all walked back to the change rooms. Calla and I waited for them in the main lab, while Big D and my mom waited by the elevator.

Chase was the first to finish. Calla raised an eyebrow at him as he walked over to us. "Facility X?" she asked. He smirked guiltily.

"Totally levelled." He replied. I high fived him. "Oh, hey! You're wearing your necklace."

I got a good look at it for the first time; earlier I was too caught up with my own gifts to notice hers. It was a simple white snowflake on a silver chain. Calla smiled, blushing a little. "Yeah, thanks. It's really pretty."

I wasn't sure if I should give them some privacy or not, but Adam and Bree walked out then, so I didn't have to decide. We headed upstairs. The second we hit the main floor, a wonderful aroma hit our noses. We walked into the kitchen to see Principal Perry surrounded by wonderful foods.

"Principal Perry, we…smell food." Big D trailed off. I looked at Principal Perry.

"What are you doing?" I asked. She smiled.

"Making dinner. What's it look like?" she asked. Adam frowned.

"We've had enough of this! Get out!" he yelled. Calla elbowed him in the ribs.

"Adam! Shut up! She made crepes!" Calla would do anything, and I mean ANYTHING for a plate of crepes. We all gravitated towards the food.

"Principal Perry, this is amazing." My mom said. Calla looked at her, shocked.

"Wow. I can't believe you actually did something nice." She said. Chase nodded.

"It's Christmas miracle." It really was the most rational explanation, aside from aliens.

"It's nothing." Principal Perry replied. "I figured I crashed your holiday; it was the least I could do."

My mom smiled. "Oh look, how fancy! She made a Christmas goose."

"Actually, that's a swan from the pond down the street." Principal Perry replied. "Did you know you can walk right up to them?"

Suddenly, Calla gasped. "Oh yeah! How could I forget? I have your presents in my bag. I'll go get them."

"I'll help." Chase offered and started to follow her out of the room.

"Hold up!" Principal Perry ordered. They stopped, and looked at her. I smirked, noticing Principal Perry's gaze.

"Uh, guys?" Chase asked, a little confused. Adam laughed, understanding what was going on.

"What?" Calla asked. Bree giggled.

"Look up." She told them. They looked up and saw the piece of mistletoe hanging over their heads. They looked back at each other, and there was a moment of silence, then Calla turned to Adam.

"Dude, mistletoe? Really?" she asked. "I'm the only one in the house not related to you, aside from Principal Perry. What were you thinking?"

Adam opened his mouth to answer, but she raised a hand to stop him. "Actually, I probably don't want to know."

"You guys still have to kiss." I reminded her. Bree gasped.

"Wait a second!" she exclaimed. She ran off somewhere and came back a few seconds later, holding a camera. She held it up, ready to take a picture. "Now you can kiss."

"Oh, for goodness sake!" Calla exclaimed. She leaned forward, gave Chase a peck on the cheek, and turned to us. "Happy now?"

"Um, I think it has to be on the lips…" Calla gave me a glare as I said that. "Never mind."

"Good, because I want to hand out gifts." She skipped back to the guest room. Chase looked back up at the mistletoe, and then grinned at Adam, giving him a thumbs up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay tuned for The Lab Assistant: Who is Marcus?


End file.
